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Purchased  by  the   Hamill   Missionary  Fund. 


3V  2060  .CD  lyuu 

Clarke,  William  Newton,  1841 

-1912. 
A  study  of  Christian 


jnni  c?c;  1  nn^ 


A    STUDY   OF  CHKISTIAN 
MISSIONS 


A  STUDY  OF 
CHRISTIAN    MISSIONS 


BY 

WILLIAM   NEWTON   CLAEKE,  D.  D. 

Author  of 

"an  outline  of  christian  theology" 


CHARLES   SCRIBNER'S    SONS 
NEW  YORK 1900 


Copyright,  1900, 
By  Charles  Scribner's  Sons 


©iiiijfrsftg  ^xz%%: 
John  Wilson  and  Son,  Cambkidgb,  U.  S.  A. 


TO 

SEfie  pagtors  of  America 


CONTENTS 


Page 

I.  The  Missionary  Character  of  Christianity  1 

11.  The  Missionary  Motive  in  Christianity      .  21 

III.  The  Object  in  Christian  Missions    ....  50 

IV.  The  Field  of  Missions 76 

V.  Christianity  and  Other  Religions  ....  97 

VI.  Organization  for  Missionary  Purposes    .     .  122 

VII.  Denominations  in  Missions 144 

VIII.  The  Present  Crisis  in  Missions 170 

IX.  The  ISText  Needs  in  Missions 196 

X.  The  Outlook  in  Missions 229 

XI.  The  Home  Side  of  Missioi^s 251 


A 

STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN   MISSIONS 


THE  MISSIONARY   CHARACTER  OF 
CHRISTIANITY 

The  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  is  a  missionary  religion. 
The  work  and  example  of  its  Founder  destined  it  to 
be  such,  its  early  spirit  was  missionary,  and  its  his- 
tory is  a  missionary  history.  Whenever  it  has  lost 
its  missionary  quality  it  has  so  far  lost  its  character 
■and  ceased  to  be  itself.  Its  characteristic  temper 
has  always  been  missionary,  its  revivals  of  life  and 
power  have  been  attended  by  quickening  of  mis- 
sionary energy,  and  missionary  activity  is  one  of  the 
truest  signs  of  loyalty  to  its  character  and  its  Lord. 

What  makes  Christianity  a  missionary  religion? 
By  virtue  of  what  qualities  does  it  thus  tend  and 
seek  to  spread  itself  throughout  the  world?  By 
what  right  does  it  offer  itself  to  all  men  as  suc- 
cessor and  substitute,  in  place  of  all  their  reli- 
gions?—  for  this  is  what  its  missionary  character 

1 


2  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

implies.  Two  general  grounds  for  this  missionary 
character  of  Christianity  may  be  mentioned,  of  which 
one  is  external  and  the  other  internal.  The  pres- 
entation of  them  of  course  implies  that  for  the 
present  purpose  Christianity  is  regarded  as  one  of 
the  religions  of  the  world,  and  is  brought  into  com- 
parison with  the  others. 

1.  Christianity  is  properly  reckoned  in  the  class 
of  universal  religions. 

In  its  origin  and  history,  Christianity  stands  dis- 
tinguished from  all  the  ethnic  religions,  or  religions 
of  some  particular  nation  or  race.  Many  religions 
have  had  their  home  exclusively  within  single  races 
or  peoples,  making  no  effort,  and  showing  no  abil- 
ity, to  go  farther  in  the  world.  Such  were  the 
religions  of  ancient  Egypt,  Greece,  Rome,  Scandi- 
navia :  such  also  is  Hinduism,  which  is  the  religion 
of  India  alonej  and  reveals  no  missionary  feeling 
toward  mankind.  Such  is  the  religion  of  China, 
which  goes  beyond  its  native  realm  only  to  influ- 
ence kindred  peoples. 

There  are  good  reasons  why  ethnic  religions  are 
not  missionary.  They  have  sprung  up  as  expres- 
sions of  the  life,  thought,  and  experience  of  the 
peoples  that  cherish  them.      They  have  not  been 


MISSIONARY  CHARACTER  OF  CHRISTIANITY    3 

founded,  they  have  grown.  Whatever  vital  sub- 
stance they  contain  has  not  been  brought  to  the 
people,  but  brought  forth  from  them.  Hinduism 
is  the  expression  of  the  religious  genius  of  India, 
developed  and  organized  through  the  long  course 
of  ages.  Confucianism  is  the  offspring  of  the 
mind  of  China.  But  races  of  men  differ  deeply 
in  the  quality  of  their  religious  genius  and  the 
course  of  the  experience  that  develops  it,  and  a  re- 
ligion that  has  grown  up  in  the  life  of  one  people 
is  not  likely  to  commend  itself  to  the  mind  of 
another.  The  religion  of  India  has,  at  its  best,  a 
philosophical  quality  and  a  spiritual  tone  quite  for- 
eign to  that  of  China.  The  difference  corresponds 
to  a  difference  in  the  national  minds  ;  and  the  result 
is  that  neither  race  could  possibly  accept,  or  even 
justly  apprehend,  the  religion  of  the  other.  Thus 
ethnic  religions  are  naturally  limited  in  their  field. 
Each,  representing  a  people,  is  naturally  limited  to 
a  people. 

There  is  another  reason.  If  the  mental  and  spirit- 
ual energy  of  a  people  goes  to  the  building-up  of  a 
religion,  it  mainly  expends  itself  in  that  work.  A 
great  religion  is  of  slow  growth,  and  by  the  time 
that  it  comes  to  anything  like  full  development,  the 
vitality  that  started  it  is  likely  to  be  spent.     The 


4  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

later  stages  of  a  religion  are  apt,  as  experience 
shows,  to  be  stages  of  formalism,  in  which  no  out- 
reaching  impulse  arises.  To  carry  an  ethnic  religion 
to  a  new  people  would  be  a  more  exacting  task  than 
to  produce  it,  for  the  lack  of  adaptation  to  a  new 
field  would  have  to  be  encountered  and  overcome ; 
and  so  great  and  enterprising  a  movement  would 
probably  be  too  much  for  a  people  that  had  spent  its 
spiritual  strength  in  working  out  its  own  religious 
genius.  Thus  ethnic  religions  naturally  tend  to 
remain  ethnic,  and  not  to  become  universal. 

There  are  other  religions  that  are  not  ethnic,  —  re- 
ligions that  have  not  grown  up  as  the  fruit  of  a  peo- 
ple's life,  but  have  been  established  and  proclaimed 
by  a  founder,  who  had  obtained  some  fresh  and  vital 
conceptions.  Such  are  Buddhism,  Parseeism,  Mo- 
hammedanism, Christianity.  It  is  true  that  these  re- 
ligions all  had  their  roots  in  the  past,  back  of  their 
founders,  and  drew  an  inheritance  from  ethnic  faiths 
more  ancient ;  yet  they  arose  through  the  mission  and 
labor  of  individual  founders,  who  brought  new  forma- 
tive ideas  in  religion  which  the  people  needed  but  had 
not  found.  These  religions  have  all  given  proof  of 
their  higher  quality  and  larger  adaptation,  by  becom- 
ing more  or  less  independent  of  national  and  racial 
boundaries.     Not  wholly  ethnic  in  their  origin,  they 


MISSIONARY  CHARACTER  OF   CHRISTIANITY    5 

are  not  ethnic  in  their  field  and  range.  India  produced 
its  Hinduism,  and  kept  it.  But  Buddhism,  though 
rooted  in  the  old  religion  of  India,  received  its  impulse 
from  a  great  religious  soul,  and  was  offered  by  him 
to  his  people,  who  could  never  have  developed  it ;  and 
though  Buddhism  did  not  permanently  supplant  the 
old  religion  in  India,  it  went  forth  to  conquer  other 
races,  which  the  old  religion  had  never  thought  of 
doing.  In  like  manner,  all  the  non-ethnic  reli- 
gions have  had  the  missionary  character,  and  have 
borne  their  messages  to  men  of  various  blood  and 
nationality. 

Pre-eminent  in  impulse  and  efficiency  among  these 
missionary  religions  is  Christianity.  It  was  cradled 
in  Judaism,  the  religion  in  which  its  Founder  and 
his  first  followers  were  born.  In  Judaism  the  ethnic 
and  the  universal  were  at  strife.  Its  best  spirit  was 
catholic,  but  the  conditions  of  its  life  were  national, 
and  its  temper  tended  to  become  exclusive.  Abroad, 
in  the  Jewish  dispersion,  the  element  of  universality 
was  gaining  in  force  when  Christ  came ;  but  in 
Palestine  the  ethnic  was  triumphing  and  nar- 
rowness was  becoming  intense.  As  for  the  early 
Christianity,  we  know  how  it  hastened  to  disentangle 
itself  from  Judaism  and  address  itself  to  the  Gen- 
tiles, the  nations  of  the  world.     We  know,  too,  how 


6  A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

great  was  its  success.  As  soon  as  it  endeavored  to 
bless  men  anywhere  and  everywhere,  taking  them  as 
it  found  them,  it  proved  itself  adapted  to  men  as 
men,  irrespective  of  race  and  nationality.  Through- 
out the  world  that  was  then  within  reach,  it  went 
with  power,  triumphing  over  a  thousand  difficulties 
and  winning  successes  of  a  noble  order.  It  recog- 
nized no  limits  upon  its  field,  but  called  itself 
universal,  a  faith  for  all.  When  fresh  races  called 
barbarian  came  in  its  way,  it  laid  hold  upon  them 
with  a  divine  energy,  and  accomplished  more  for 
them  perhaps  than  it  had  done  for  the  civilized. 
Its  success  was  not  perfect  according  to  its  own 
standard,  for  the  agencies  through  which  it  had  to 
work  were  imperfect,  and  it  was  unavoidably  in- 
fluenced in  turn  by  what  it  conquered ;  yet  it  went 
forth  to  men  of  various  races  as  a  conquering  faith, 
and  proved  itself  a  universal  religion,  worthy  to  be 
offered  to  all  the  world. 

Ever  since,  whenever  Christianity  has  had  its  spir- 
itual health,  it  has  been  strong  in  missionary  activity. 
It  has  had  success  with  races  civilized  and  with 
races  savage.  Great  undertakings  are  still  before 
it,  and  the  works  already  in  hand  are  far  from  fin- 
ished; but  in  modern  times,  when  the  world  was 
becoming  open  and  known,  it  rose  to  the  missionary 


MISSIONARY  CHARACTER  OF   CHRISTIANITY    7 

enterprise  with  faith  and  vigor.  Far  beyond  other 
religions,  Christianity  has  shown  itself  catholic  and 
aggressive  toward  humanity.  It  now  stands  forth  as 
a  missionary  religion,  offering  itself  to  all  mankind ; 
and  in  so  doing  it  only  carries  forward  its  ancient 
claim  and  maintains  its  historic  character.  In  its 
modern  attitude,  as  well  as  in  its  early  career,  it 
deserves  to  be  reckoned  among  the  universal  re- 
ligions, and  at  the  head  of  them  all. 

2.  Coming  to  the  interior  view  of  the  matter,  we 
may  say  that  Christianity  is  a  missionary  religion  be- 
cause it  claims,  and  justly  claims,  to  be  superior  to 
all  other  religions. 

Something  has  made  Christianity  the  boldest  of  the 
religions  that  lay  claim  to  universality;  and  that 
something  is  an  inward  sense  of  its  own  divine  ex- 
cellence, surpassing  all  other  faiths.  In  all  its  mis- 
sionary epochs,  this  deep  conviction  has  prevailed, 
that  no  other  religion  could  compare  with  Christian- 
ity in  fulness  of  truth  and  life,  and  in  richness  of 
provision  for  the  true  welfare  of  men.  This  con- 
sciousness that  it  has  the  best,  and  is  the  best,  is 
what  has  impelled  Christianity  to  missionary  effort. 
Evidently  such  a  conviction  is  needed,  if  a  religion 
is  to  be  aggressively  missionary.      Christianity  be- 


8  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

gan  with  this  conviction,  and  has  never  lost  it. 
Naturally,  in  proportion  to  the  clearness,  intelligence, 
and  energy  of  this  conviction  will  be  the  energy 
of  missionary  zeal.  And  as  ages  advance,  and  the 
greatness  and  seriousness  of  the  undertaking  become 
ever  more  impressive,  this  sense  of  the  sufficiency 
and  superiority  of  the  Christian  faith,  and  its  adapta- 
tion to  all  men,  needs  to  be  growing  ever  deeper  and 
more  inspiring.  There  is  need  to-day  of  a  keener 
and  profounder  sense  of  the  excellence  of  Christian- 
ity than  the  Christian  people  have  ever  possessed. 

That  a  claim  of  superiority  ought  to  accompany 
missionary  effort  needs  no  proof.  A  religion  that 
seeks  to  displace  another  ought  to  know  itself  the 
better  of  the  two.  A  man  who  goes  to  a  foreign 
people  asking  them  to  accept  his  religion  in  place 
of  their  own,  has  no  right  to  be  on  such  an  errand 
unless  he  has  a  conviction,  intelligent  as  well  as 
sincere,  that  the  change  will  make  them  richer  in 
truth  and  better  in  life.  If  we  venture  to  cry, 
"  Christianity  for  the  world,"  we  imply  that  the 
entire  body  of  humanity  would  do  well  to  abandon 
all  its  religions  and  take  ours  in  their  stead.  Unless 
we  feel  that  this  is  true,  we  shall  not  offer  Christi- 
anity with  power,  and  unless  it  really  is  true,  our 
offer  is  an  impertinence. 


MISSIONARY  CHARACTER  OF   CHRISTIANITY    9 

This  claim  of  superiority  must  be  fairly  made. 
We  must  not  assume  that  to  claim  superior  ex- 
cellence is  to  prove  it.  A  claim  proves  nothing. 
Our  claim  calls  for  a  comparison  whereby  it  may  be 
sustained.  Comparison  cannot  be  evaded,  and  we 
should  not  desire  to  escape  it.  The  comparison, 
too,  must  be  an  honest  one.  We  must  not  be  con- 
tent to  compare  the  best  in  our  religion  with  some- 
thing that  is  low  or  unworthy  in  Buddhism  or  the 
religion  of  China.  Point  must  be  measured  against 
point,  excellence  must  be  compared  with  excellence, 
defect  with  defect.  Christianity  must  appear  better 
than  the  best  of  the  faith  that  it  seeks  to  displace. 
And  we  cannot  do  righteous  missionary  work  by 
merely  asserting  the  superiority  of  our  religion ;  we 
need  that  the  qualities  in  which  it  excels  should  be 
clearly  discerned  by  our  minds  and  felt  by  our  hearts, 
so  that  we  can  show  reason  for  our  claim.  Christian- 
ity offers  itself  as  worthy  to  take  the  place  of  all  the 
other  religions  of  mankind ;  it  is  necessary,  therefore, 
to  learn  what  it  is  that  renders  it  worthy  of  this  su- 
preme honor.  This  a  missionary  needs  to  know,  and 
the  church  at  home,  conducting  missionary  enter- 
prises, needs  to  know  the  same. 

Therefore,  if  we  are  rightly  to  approach  the  study 
of  Christian  missions,  we  must  at  the  outset  inquire 


10  A  STUDY   OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

what  internal  quality  it  is  that  makes  Christianity 
the  universal  religion,  adapted  to  all  men  and  best 
for  all  men,  truer  than  all  truth  outside  itself,  and 
worthy  to  be  received  with  joy  by  every  creature. 
Nothing  but  a  clear  and  satisfactory  answer  to  this 
question  will  establish  Christian  missions  on  a  firm 
foundation. 

What  then  is  that  excellence  in  Christianity  by 
virtue  of  which  it  is  entitled  to  be  a  missionary  re- 
ligion and  deserves  to  be  received  by  all  men? 
Christianity  is  entitled  to  be  a  missionary  religion, 
and  to  displace  all  other  religions,  because  of  its  God. 

There  are  many  glories  in  the  religion  of  Jesus 
Christ,  and  it  can  do  many  services  for  men ;  but  its 
crowning  glory,  or  rather  the  sum  of  all  its  glories,  is 
its  God.  Christianity  has  such  a  conception  of  God 
as  no  other  religion  has  attained  ;  and,  what  is  more, 
it  proclaims  and  brings  to  pass  such  an  experience  of 
God  as  humanity  has  never  elsewhere  known.  It  is 
in  this  that  we  find  that  superiority  which  entitles 
Christianity  to  offer  itself  to  all  mankind. 

It  is  necessary  to  tell  in  few  words  what  this 
God  is  who  is  the  glory  of  Christianity  and  the 
ground  of  its  boldness  in  missionary  advances,  — 
this  God  so  infinitely  excellent  that  all  men  may 


MISSIONARY  CHARACTER   OF   CHRISTIANITY    11 

well  afford  to  forget  all  their  own  religions,  if  they 
may  but  know  him.  The  God  of  Christianity  is  one, 
the  sole  source.  Lord  and  end  of  all.  He  is  holy, 
having  in  himself  the  character  that  is  the  worthy 
standard  for  all  beings.  He  is  love,  reaching  out 
to  save  the  world  from  sin  and  fill  it  with  his  own 
goodness.  He  is  wise,  knowing  how  to  accomplish 
his  heart's  desire.  He  is  Father  in  heart,  looking 
upon  his  creatures  as  his  own,  and  seeking  their 
welfare.  All  this  truth  concerning  himself  he  has 
made  known  in  Jesus  Christ  the  Saviour  of  the 
world,  in  whom  his  redemptive  will  has  found  ex- 
pression, and  his  saving  love  has  come  forth  to 
mankind. 

That  the  glory  of  Christianity  is  its  God  may  most 
conveniently  be  shown  by  bringing  this  excellence 
into  comparison  with  other  excellences  on  the 
strength  of  which  Christianity  is  often  commended. 
Various  excellences  have  been  placed  at  the  front 
as  justifying  the  missionary  endeavor  and  the  offer- 
ing of  our  religion  to  the  world ;  but  when  they  are 
compared  with  this  excellence,  it  will  be  found  that 
they  take  their  place  as  specifications  under  it,  or 
as  forms  in  which  this  supreme  glory  manifests 
itself. 

Christianity  is  often  offered  as  worthy  to  be  uni- 


y 


12  A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

versal  because  it  is  ethically  noble.  It  is  entitled 
to  supplant  other  religions  because  it  surpasses 
them  all  in  its  conceptions  of  human  duty,  and 
in  its  power  to  secure  the  realization  of  its  ideals. 
It  introduces  solid  and  efficient  ethical  principles, 
and  it  produces  high  character,  in  a  manner  known 
to  no  other  religion. 

This  statement  is  entirely  true,  but  it  is  incom- 
plete. It  is  weakness  to  declare  the  etliical  great- 
ness of  our  religion  without  telling  what  eternal 
reality  it  rests  upon.  Why  is  Christianity  ethically 
noble  and  powerful  ?  Christianity  has  an  ethical 
God.  It  knows  a  God  with  a  character,  and  that  the 
best  possible  character,  —  a  perfectly  good  God.  It 
declares  that  the  character  of  God  has  been  shown  to 
us  men,  and  lived  out  in  our  presence  in  the  character 
of  his  son  Jesus  Christ.  It  declares  that  the  char- 
acter of  God  is  the  standard  for  men,  and  that  the 
good  God  has  drawn  near  in  self-revelation,  on  pur- 
pose to  help  men  reach  this  standard.  In  its  God, 
Christianity  has  the  substance  of  the  noblest  ethics 
and  the  sure  hope  of  attainment  to  high  character; 
for  its  God  is  the  real  and  living  God,  whose 
character  is  a  reality,  and  whose  love  for  good- 
ness is  the  most  powerful  ethical  fact  in  existence. 
Thus   the   claim   that   Christianity  may  offer   itself 


MISSIONARY   CHARACTER  OF   CHRISTIANITY    13 

as  universal  because  of  its  ethical  nobleness  is  only 
a  form  of  the  broad  claim  that  Christianity  may 
offer  itself  as  universal  because  of  its  God. 

Another  commendation  of  Christianity  lies  in  the 
same  region,  but  bears  a  different  form.  Christianity 
is  proposed  as  universal  because  it  is  a  religion  of 
salvation;  it  offers  deliverance  from  sin,  of  which 
man  everywhere  is  in  need.  Sin  is  the  sad  and 
dark  element  in  the  universal  life ;  the  burden  of 
it  has  oppressed  religion  in  all  ages ;  the  religions 
of  the  world  are  aware  of  it,  but  know  no  relief 
from  it.  Christianity  comes  with  the  offer  of  salva- 
tion, deliverance  from  sin  and  its  evils,  and  thereby 
meets  the  universal  need.  It  not  only  offers  such 
deliverance,  but  introduces  the  experience  of  it,  and 
is  thereby  commended  as  the  religion  for  all. 

Gloriously  true  as  this  statement  is,  it  is  no  more 
complete  than  the  other.  What  is  the  ground  of 
that  deliverance  from  sin  which  Christianity  pro- 
poses? On  how  broad  and  deep  a  foundation  does 
the  promise  rest?  What  reason  can  be  given,  suf- 
ficient to  justify  the  weary  world  in  expecting  so 
great  a  gift?  The  testimony  of  Christianity  is 
that  the  deliverance  from  sin  which  it  offers  is 
grounded  in  the  heart  and  character  of  God.  A 
Christian  is  able  to  say,  "My  God,  the  only  God 


14  A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

that  lives,  is  the  Saviour.  The  one  God  of  all  the 
world  offers  deliverance  from  sin  to  all  the  world." 
Christianity  perceives,  and  declares,  that  the  living 
God  is  a  being  who  will  do  such  work  as  this  for 
men.  It  does  not  make  the  unsupported  declaration 
that  men  can  be  delivered  from  sin;  it  gives  the 
deeper  and  broader  teaching  that  the  God  of  all 
has  the  heart  of  a  Saviour.  It  proclaims  a  real 
and  living  God  who  cares  for  his  creatures,  —  a 
holy  Being  who  is  a  friend  to  man  and  has  come 
near  in  Christ  on  purpose  to  deliver  men  from  sin 
and  impart  to  them  the  likeness  of  his  own  char- 
acter. This  is  the  God  whom  Christianity  pro- 
claims, and  its  proclamation  is  confirmed  by  the 
Christian  experience,  which  has  learned  that  it  is 
true.  Christianity  is,  above  all  others,  the  religion 
of  experience,  and  its  characteristic  experience  is 
experience  of  deliverance  from  sin  through  trustful 
fellowship  with  the  Saviour-God  whom  we  know 
in  Christ.  Thus  the  claim  that  Christianity  is 
worthy  to  be  universal  because  it  is  a  religion  of 
salvation,  proves  to  be  no  detached  and  unsupported 
claim;  it  resolves  itself  into  the  more  fundamental 
claim  that  Christianity  deserves  to  be  universal  be- 
cause it  proclaims  and  knows  a  saving  God. 

It  is  a  common  thing  to   hear  Christianity  com- 


MISSIONARY  CHARACTER  OF  CHRISTIANITY    15 

mended  as  worthy  to  be  universal  on  the  ground 
that  it  is  in  the  broadest  sense  a  hopeful  religion. 
A  tone  of  pessimism  and  despair,  or  at  least  of 
gloom  and  cheerlessness,  sounds  through  the  re- 
ligions of  the  world;  but  the  religion  of  Christ 
breathes  hopefulness  and  strength,  and  has  ban- 
ished despair  from  millions.  This  again  is  per- 
fectly true,  but  incomplete.  Whence  comes  the 
hopefulness  ?  Christianity  obtains  its  hopeful  char- 
acter from  the  character  of  its  God.  It  discerns  a 
living  God  so  good  and  strong  and  trustworthy  that 
hope  comes  in  from  the  knowledge  of  him,  for  the 
reinforcement  of  all  that  is  good  in  his  world. 
Change  and  lower  the  Christian  conception  of  God, 
and  the  hopefulness  of  Christianity  fades  away.  If 
our  religion  seems  a  glorious  boon  for  all  the  world 
because  of  the  contrast  that  it  offers  to  the  cheerless- 
ness of  other  faiths,  that  means  simply  that  there  is  a 
glorious  contrast  between  all  other  gods  and  the  liv- 
ing God  whom  it  makes  known. 

Christianity  is  often  proposed  as  adapted  to  all 
men  because  it  is  a  religion  of  brotherhood,  making 
of  mankind  one  family.  It  has  a  history  that  is 
honorable  though  imperfect  in  this  respect,  for  it 
does  overleap  barriers,  ignore  distinctions,  reconcile 
differences,  and  establish  a  recognized  unity  of  man. 


16  A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

Though  it  is  far  from  having  attained  to  its  own 
ideal,  its  ideal  is  human  fraternity,  as  wide  as  the 
human  race.  But  this  proposal  also  is  incomplete. 
How  came  this  ideal  into  existence?  Christianity 
learned  human  brotherhood  from  divine  fatherhood. 
There  can  be  no  family  without  a  head,  no  brothers 
without  a  father.  The  Christian  testimony  is,  "  One 
is  your  Father,  and  all  ye  are  brothers."  It  is  when 
God  is  known  as  one,  and  is  felt  to  be  a  genuine 
Father,  that  men  deeply  feel  themselves  to  be  of  one 
family.  How  many  attempted  brotherhoods  have 
fallen  apart  for  want  of  a  father!  but  Christianity 
sets  the  keystone  in  the  arch.  The  Christian  brother- 
hood in  doctrine  and  experience  comes  from  the 
Christian  doctrine  and  experience  of  God.  If  Chris- 
tianity is  adapted  to  all  the  world  because  it  makes 
brother-men,  that  means  that  it  knows  a  God  to 
whom  all  men  sustain  one  relation,  and  in  whom  all 
may  live  one  life. 

Thus  the  main  commendations  of  Christianity  as  a 
religion  for  all  men  are  found  to  be  forms  or  devel- 
opments of  the  Christian  doctrine  of  God.  He  is  its 
glory. 

It  must  be  added  that  in  the  God  whom  Christian- 
ity thus  knows  and  proclaims,  religion  and  ethics 


MISSIONARY  CHARACTER  OF  CHRISTIANITY    17 

both  find  their  utmost  satisfaction.  In  this  strength 
and  glory  Christianity  is  unique.  The  object  of  wor- 
ship and  the  standard  of  character  and  conduct  are  one 
and  the  same.  There  is  but  one  object  of  worship,  — 
God;  and  there  is  but  one  standard  of  character, 
—  God.  He  whom  we  adore  is  the  one  whom  we 
imitate,  and  we  do  both  for  one  reason,  because  we 
know  that  he  is  worthy  both  of  imitation  and  of 
worship.  Hence  in  Christianity,  when  it  is  rightly 
discerned,  these  two  parts  of  human  nature,  the 
religious  and  the  ethical,  need  never  come  into  any 
conflict,  or  fall  apart  so  as  to  seek  satisfaction  sepa- 
rately. Other  religions  have  not  attained  to  this. 
They  have  worshipped'  their  gods,  from  a  variety  of 
motives,  but  have  not  had  in  their  gods  any  suffi- 
cient and  satisfactory  standard  of  character.  They 
could  seek  their  favor  and  help,  but  could  not  imi- 
tate their  conduct.  Hence  for  ethics  men  have  been 
compelled  to  turn  to  philosophy.  Not  having  deities 
good  enough  to  serve  for  example  and  inspiration  in 
goodness,  they  have  had  to  think  their  moral  ques- 
tions out  for  themselves,  and  be  content  with  such 
moral  foundations  as  human  relations  might  afford. 
It  is  both  legitimate  and  necessary  to  think  these 
questions  out,  and  human  relations  do  constitute  a 
true  source  of  knowledge   in   ethics ;    but  there  is 


18  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

something  lacking  when  religion  does  not  come 
with  power  to  the  support  of  the  ethical  nature  of 
man.  Christianity  worships  its  God  because  he  is  so 
good.  It  is  just  because  he  is  so  worthy  of  imitation 
that  he  is  worthy  of  adoration.  The  one  Being 
satisfies  both  demands  of  the  soul,  and  satisfies 
them  in  the  highest  degree.  He  who  knows  the 
God  and  father  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  can 
always  rejoice  and  rest  in  his  God.  Both  as  a  moral 
being  and  as  a  worshipper  he  can  say  without  reserve, 
that  knowledge  of  his  God  affords  him  honest  satis- 
faction and  perfect  rest. 

The  conception  of  God  with  which  Christianity 
addresses  the  world  is  the  best  that  man  can  form 
or  entertain.  If  such  a  God  is  real,  all  best  things 
are  possible.  When  Christianity  goes  out  to  meet 
the  world,  it  goes  with  a  declaration  which  the 
world  has  never  known  as  true,  namely,  the  declara- 
tion that  such  a  God  is  real.  It  says  that  the 
only  God  that  exists  is  the  good  God  and  Father 
of  Jesus  Christ.  It  declares  that  he  is  near,  ap- 
proachable, tender,  approaching  men  with  desire  to 
bring  the  blessing  of  his  goodness  to  all  souls  and 
to  impart  it  to  the  general  life  of  humanity.  It 
declares  this  on  the  ground  of  God's  gracious  self- 


MISSIONARr  CHARACTER  OF  CHRISTIANITY    19 

revelation  in  Jesus  Christ,  and  on  the  ground  of  rich 
and  satisfactory  experience  in  innumerable  souls, 
confirming  the  message  that  Christ  has  borne  con- 
cerning him.  God  has  offered  himself  to  be  known 
by  men  in  actual  experience,  it  says,  and  conse- 
quently God  is  known  by  many  men,  and  may  be 
known  by  more.  The  reality  of  the  holy  and 
gracious  Saviour-God  is  the  dearest  and  surest  cer- 
tainty to  innumerable  human  beings,  and  may  come 
to  be  the  same  to  innumerable  others.  On  the 
ground  of  the  revelation  and  the  experience,  Chris- 
tianity proclaims  this  living  God  with  confidence 
to  those  who  have  not  known  him  yet,  and  summons 
them  to  acquaintance  with  the  God  whose  fulness 
in  the  human  soul  is  life  eternal. 

It  does  not  need  to  be  shown  that  the  religion 
of  such  a  God  has  rights  among  men.  A  religion 
that  can  proclaim  such  a  God,  and  proclaim  him 
on  the  ground  of  experience,  is  adapted  to  all  men, 
and  is  worthy  of  all  acceptation.  Since  Christian- 
ity is  the  religion  of  such  a  God,  Christianity  de- 
serves possession  of  the  world.  It  has  the  right  to 
offer  itself  boldly  to  all  men,  and  to  displace  all 
other  religions,  for  no  other  religion  offers  what 
it  brings.  It  is  the  best  that  the  world  contains. 
Because  of  its  doctrine  and  experience  of  the  perfect 


20  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

God,  it  is  the  best  that  the  world  can  contain.  Its 
contents  can  be  unfolded  and  better  known,  but  they 
cannot  be  essentially  improved  upon.  At  heart, 
Christianity  is  simply  the  revelation  of  the  perfect 
God,  doing  the  work  of  perfect  love  and  holiness  for- 
his  creatures,  and  transforming  men  into  his  own 
likeness  so  that  they  will  do  the  works  of  love  and 
holiness  toward  their  fellows.  Than  this  nothing  can 
be  better.  Therefore  Christianity  has  full  right  to  be 
a  missionary  religion,  and  Christians  are  called  to  be 
a  missionary  people. 


II 

THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE  IN  CHRISTIANITY 

The  Christian  people  who  have  the  work  of  mis- 
sions to  perform,  must  of  course  be  influenced  by 
some  motive,  or  motives,  impelling  them  to  it.  It 
is  a  great  work,  and  the  motive  must  be  deep, 
strong,  self-justifying,  and  permanent,  if  the  work 
is  to  be  done  with  a  worthy  vigor  and  persistency. 
If  Christianity  is  really  a  missionary  religion,  it 
must  provide  some  such  motive  or  group  of  motives. 

What  constitutes  the  missionary  motive  in  Chris- 
tianity? In  seeking  to  answer  this  large  and  im- 
portant question,  we  shall  do  well  to  consider  the 
gospel  of  Christ,  which  is  the  occasion  of  Christian 
missions  and  provides  their  main  message,  in  three 
aspects.  We  may  consider  what  the  gospel  is  to  the 
three  parties  who  are  concerned  with  it.  We  may 
inquire  what  the  gospel  is  to  God  who  gave  it, 
what  it  is  to  us  who  have  received  it,  and  what  it  is 
to  the  men  who  have  not  received  it  yet.  The  mis- 
sionary impulse  is  the  response  of  the  Christian 
heart  to  the  truth  of  God  seen  in  these  three  aspects ; 


22  A   STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

and  the  threefold  inquiry  that  is  now  proposed  will 
lead  to  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  missionary  motive. 

1.  What  is  the  gospel  of  Christ  to  God  ?  To  God, 
the  gospel  of  Christ  is  his  own  chosen  and  character- 
istic means  of  imparting  the  best  spiritual  good  to 
the  world,  but  a  means  that  requires  human  co- 
operation for  its  success. 

The  inner  meaning  of  Christianity  we  know  well. 
It  is  God's  own  mission.  It  is  his  gift  to  the  world, 
dictated  by  his  love  in  view  of  the  world's  sin  and 
need.  Li  Christ,  God  came  into  the  world  to  seek 
and  to  save  that  which  was  lost.  The  whole  work 
of  Christ  was  God's  own  personal  mission  and  work, 
for  God  was  in  Christ  reconciling  the  world  unto 
himself.  From  Christ  till  now,  the  gracious  work 
of  Christianity  has  been  the  continuation  of  this 
mission  of  God.  His  motive  is  love,  acting  in 
the  interest  of  holiness.  In  his  holiness  he  hates 
sin,  and  in  his  love  he  desires  to  deliver  men  from 
it..  Thus  the  present  work  of  the  gospel  in  the 
world  stands  forth  as  the  chosen  work  of  the  great 
God  our  Father,  the  work  which  the  best  of  beings 
loves  to  do  for  us  men.  By  this  quality  of  love  and 
holiness  combined  it  is  commended  as  the  best  and 
noblest  of  works,  most  worthy  even  of  God  himself. 


THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE  IN   CHRISTIANITY    23 

Yet  the  work  of  God  through  the  gospel  involves 
as  necessary  to  its  success  the  free  and  generous  co- 
operation of  men.  The  object  of  endeavor  is  the 
moral  transformation  of  human  individuals,  and  of 
the  mass  of  mankind.  It  is  the  nature  of  men  as 
social  beings  to  influence  one  another,  and  from 
one  another  to  receive  influence.  So  there  is  noth- 
ing mysterious  about  God's  wanting  messengers  for 
his  grace,  or  calling  for  bearers  of  the  tidings  of  his 
blessing.  The  gracious  activity  of  the  divine  Spirit 
does  not  render  such  human  action  needless.  A 
human  world  must  be  reached  by  human  messen- 
gers. Human  life  must  be  transformed  through 
human  activity.  The  reporting  of  the  truth  and 
the  carrying  of  the  grace  of  God  to  practical  effect 
must  depend  upon  the  consent  and  action  of  human 
beings.  We  are  not  speaking  now  of  what  the  gos- 
pel is  to  us,  but  of  what  it  is  to  God  himself.  Even 
from  his  point  of  view,  it  is  a  work  of  holy  grace 
that  requires  the  co-operation  of  men,  if  it  is  to 
come  to  full  effect  in  the  human  world. 

In  this  view  of  it,  evidently,  the  missionary  mo- 
tive consists  in  the  holy  and  honorable  desire  to 
join  with  God  in  the  best  of  works.  If  we  prefer 
to  read  the  name  of  Christ  instead  of  the  name  of 
God  in  this  sentence,  the  meaning  will  be  essentially 


24  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

the  same,  for  Christ  is  the  expression  and  representa- 
tive of  the  invisible  God  in  the  activity  of  redemp- 
tive love.  The  desire  to  join  with  God  and  Christ 
in  this  work  is  a  perfectly  intelligible  missionary 
motive,  and  an  altogether  worthy  one.  Why  is  it 
not  also  a  sufficient  motive?  Even  if  this  desire 
stood  alone,  it  might  well  satisfy  our  best  demand 
for  a  high  and  satisfactory  motive  in  missionary 
service.  The  work  is  God's  work,  and  it  shall  be 
ours.  If  to  any  one  this  statement  seems  a  cool 
statement,  and  the  motive  looks  like  a  cool  motive, 
we  may  remember  what  the  gospel  of  Christ  is :  it 
is  an  utterance  of  the  infinite  love  of  God  in  action. 
There  is  room  for  all  warmth  of  love  in  the  joining 
with  God  that  is  proposed. 

Yet  the  name  of  Christ  adds  to  the  motive.  The 
motive  is  intensified,  personalized,  and  brought  home 
to  us  with  power,  when  we  remember  Christ.  Our 
Master  Jesus  loved  us  and  gave  himself  for  us,  and 
^for  all  men.  Him  we  love,  and  to  him  our  hearts 
go  out  in  loyal  devotion.  He  does  not  bring  to  us 
another  appeal  or  command  than  that  of  God,  and 
if  we  think  of  our  loyalty  to  him  as  something 
distinct  from  our  loyalty  to  God,  we  do  not  yet  un- 
derstand our  Saviour.  Nevertheless  we  feel  God's 
love   in   Christ   more   readily   and  profoundly   than 


THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE  IN  CHRISTIANITY    25 

God's  love  apart  from  him,  and  through  the  love 
of  Christ  we  find  the  true  way  to  answer  and  honor 
the  love  of  God.  Thus,  while  it  is  true  that  Christ 
is  nothing  to  us  apart  from  God,  it  is  also  true  that 
Christ  himself  is  to  us  unspeakably  precious,  and 
lays  a  direct  claim  upon  us  by  what  he  has  done 
for  us.  Christ  touches  us  by  the  power  of  the 
cross.  "  I  have  died  for  you,"  he  says  to  us,  and 
thereby  he  makes  an  unparalleled  appeal,  which  we 
cannot  reject  without  being  false  to  ourselves.  We 
belong  to  him  by  the  purchase  of  love,  and  we  are 
not  our  own  but  his.  At  the  same  time  Christ 
touches  us  also  by  the  power  of  his  own  excellence 
and  worthiness.  We  love  him  not  only  because  he 
first  loved  us,  but  because  he  is  worthy  to  be  loved 
and  followed.  Christ  has  proved  himself  the  true 
leader  of  men,  loyalty  to  whom  is  the  best  human 
privilege.  Christ  brings  to  us  the  appeal  of  God 
and  brings  it  through  a  noble  and  tender  divine 
human  mediation.  The  command  to  "  go  and  make 
disciples  of  all  the  nations "  is  a  summons  to  join 
with  God  in  performing  the  work  of  salvation  for 
the  world,  and  not  less  to  join  with  Christ  in  the 
same,  and  Christ's  part  in  the  appeal  and  the  motive 
is  a  great  and  precious  one.  In  loving  loyalty  to 
Christ,  the  Saviour  of  the  world,  we  find  a  quick  and 


26  A  STUDY   OF  CHRISTIAN   MISSIONS 

tender  missionary  motive  which  lays  hold  on  the 
emotional  wealth  of  our  nature,  and  brings  an  appeal 
to  which  the  heart  can  respond  with  the  full  approval 
of  the  judgment.  This  motive  has  wrought  power- 
fully to  enlist  laborers  for  missionary  service.  Thou- 
sands have  responded  to  the  love  and  call  of  God 
ministered  through  Christ,  and  gone  forth  to  bless 
the  world  with  the  Christian  message. 

Why  has  not  the  call  of  God  to  join  with  him  suf- 
ficed to  make  all  Christians  missionaries  as  a  matter 
of  course  ?  One  reason  is  found  in  the  imperfection 
of  all  that  is  human,  and  the  unresponsiveness  of 
men  to  God.  But  another  reason  is  found  in  the 
prevailing  misconception  of  what  it  is  to  be  saved. 
Many  have  supposed  that  to  be  saved  was  to  be 
taken  care  of,  and  brought  to  a  state  of  welfare  and 
a  place  of  safety.  Salvation  has  been  regarded 
as  complete  when  one's  personal  welfare  has  been 
provided  for.  But  to  be  saved  is  to  be  brought  into 
moral  fellowship  with  God.  It  is  to  receive  some- 
thing of  God's  character :  hence,  to  be  saved  is  to 
become  in  heart  a  saviour,  in  fellowship  with  him 
to  whom  we  owe  our  salvation.  Christ  is  God's 
gift  to  the  world :  Christ,  therefore,  should  be 
our  gift  to  the  world,  if  we  are  among  the  saved. 
But  if  we  consent  to  think  of  our  salvation  as  ending 


THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE  IN  CHRISTIANITY    27 

upon  ourselves,  and  completed  when  Ave  are  provided 
for,  of  course  we  shall  feel  but  faintly  the  impulse  to 
join  with  God  in  doing  for  others  what  has  been 
done  for  us.  The  narrowing  of  the  idea  of  salvation 
is  a  main  cause  of  the  weakness  of  the  missionary 
motive. 

2.  What-  is  the  gospel  of  Christ  to  us  who  have 
received  it?  To  us  who  have  received  it,  the 
gospel  of  Christ  is  the  besjt^good  of  lif e^  Christ  has 
given  us  the  gift  of  religion  in  the  best  form  in 
which  it  has  ever  been  possessed  by  men,  and  made 
us  sure  that  no  higher  form  of  religion  is  to  be 
expected  than  that  to  which  he  is  the  guide :  and  at 
the  same  time  the  gospel  of  Christ  is  the  means  of 
awakening  in  those  who  receive  it,  a  love  toward 
other  men  that  impels  to  missionary  endeavor.  In  a 
word,  the  gospel  of  Christ  gives  us  possession  of  the 
best,  and  moves  us  to  love  mankind. 

How  that  which  Christ  brings  us  is  the  best,  we 
have  already  shown  in  speaking  of  the  missionary 
character  of  Christianity.  What  Christ  brings  into 
life  is  the  reality  and  experience  of  the  good  God. 
It  is  perfectly  true  that  this  is  a  religious  gift,  and 
that  no  other  conceivable  gift  could  be  so  helpful 
and  inspiring  as  this  in  the  field  of  religion.     But 


28  A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN   MISSIONS 

it  is  inadequate  to  say  that  the  gift  of  the  good  God 
is  effective  in  the  religious  field,  for  it  extends  in  its 
unimaginable  beneficence  to  the  entire  field  of  life. 
There  is  no  part  of  life  or  thought  which  the  gift 
of  Christ  does  not  touch,  and  he  touches  nothing 
that  he  does  not  redeem  and  glorify.  Trustful  recog- 
nition of  the  good  God  transforms  existence.  We 
have  scarcely  yet  begun  to  know  how  full  and  glori- 
ous a  blessing  we  have  in  our  perception  of  the  God 
whom  Christ  reveals.  The  glory  of  such  knowledge 
is  thus  far  only  in  its  morning  twilight.  Yet  it  is 
already  glory  indeed  to  the  souls  that  discern  it,  and 
it  is  certain  that  this  gift,  brought  home  to  us  by 
Jesus  Christ,  is  capable  of  making  all  things  new 
for  us  and  for  all  men  who  may  come  to  possess 
it.  We  have  the  best  in  religion,  and  we  have 
the  best  in  life,  in  our  possession  of  the  gospel  of 
Christ. 

As  to  what  our  duty  is  if  we  do  possess  the 
best  in  religion  and  the  best  in  life,  this  is  either 
a  very  puzzling  question,  or  no  question  whatever. 
If  selfishness  discusses  it,  it  may  be  a  hard  question 
to  decide ;  for  while  there  is  something  to  be  said  in 
favor  of  generosity,  there  is  much  in  favor  of  indif- 
ference to  our  fellow-men.  But  the  Christian  spirit 
brushes  all  selfish  complications  aside,  and  finds  no 


/ 


THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE  IN   CHRISTIANITY    29 

question  at  all.  We  claim  a  religion  of  grace  and 
truth,  and  this  surely  ought  to  make  us  unselfish. 
If  the  sense  of  possessing  a  noble  religion  makes  us 
selfish,  or  confirms  us  in  selfish  ways,  we  do  not 
yet  know  what  a  noble  religion  is.  It  would  be 
difficult  to  analyze  and  estimate  the  various  moral 
evils  that  lurk  in  such  a  sentiment  as  this,  —  "  The 
best  in  religion  is  none  too  good  for  me,  but  some 
religion  that  does  not  bring  deliverance  from  im- 
purity, superstition,  or  despair  is  the  best  for  some 
other  man  whom  God  has  created."  Truth  and 
grace,  saving  gifts  that  make  a  new  thing  of  life, 
have  come  to  us  undeserved  from  God's  free  mercy. 
They  would  do  as  much  for  other  men  as  they  have 
done  for  us,  and  they  can  do  far  more  for  all  men 
than  they  have  yet  done  for  any.  "  Freely  ye  have 
received,  freely  give,"  is  good  morals.  When  the 
gift  is  precious  to  eyerj  one  who  receives  it,  there  is 
no  question  of  duty  as  to  giving  it.  We  can  do  men 
the  best  of  services,  and  we  ought. 

It  is  plain,  however,  that  before  the  possession  of 
the  best  in  religion  and  in  life  can  become  effective 
as  a  missionary  motive,  it  must  be  reinforced  by  a 
consciousness,  or  sense,  of  possessing  the  best  in 
religion  and  in  life.  It  is  our  nature  to  feel  before 
we  act.     It  is  the  consciousness  of  having  the  best, 


30  A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

and  of  having  what  the  world  needs,  that  serves  as 
missionary  motive,  impelling  Christians  to  missionary 
endeavor. 

^  The  sense  of  possessing  the  unparalleled  good  is 
characteristic  of  Christianity,  whenever  Christianity 
is  at  its  best.  The  enthusiastic  conviction  of  an 
ardent  faith  is  a  fruit  of  the  fact  that  Christianity  is 
a  religion  of  experience.  Instead  of  being  a  mere 
doctrine,  however  true,  it  is  a  life ;  and  the  experi- 
ence of  it  consists  in  the  possession  of  something  that 
the  soul  finds  inexpressibly  worthy  and  precious. 
Forgiveness  of  sins,  fellowship  with  God,  the  warmth 
of  love,  the  vision  of  faith,  the  glow  of  hope,  the 
beauty  of  holiness,  the  joy  of  usefulness,  —  all  this 
is  more  precious  than  words  can  tell.  There  is  no 
need  of  learning  or  high  intelligence  to  make  it  so ; 
a  simple-minded  Christian,  living  in  the  experience  of 
faith,  hope,  and  love,  can  scarcely  fail  to  have  the 
sense  of  possessing  the  noblest  good.  The  certainty 
that  the  saving  Christ  is  the  supreme  gift  of  the 
gracious  God,  is  no  monopoly  of  the  pulpits  that 
preach  it,  or  the  schools  that  teach  it ;  it  is  the  com- 
mon property  of  the  Christian  people.  Herein  is  the 
^^st  support  of  the  missionary  spirit.  So  long  as  the 
Christian  people  really  feel  the  supreme  value  of 
their  Lord  and  their  life,  the  missionary  impulse  will 


THE  MISSIONARY   MOTIVE  IN   CHRISTIANITY    31 

continue  powerful.     God's  best  and  richest  gift,  ap- 
preciated, brings  its  own  call  to  missionary  endeavor. 
Hence  the  missionary  impulse  in  this  form  depends; 
for  its  vitality  upon  the  vigor  of  the  Christian  life 
in  the  Christian  people.     Only  a  living  church  can 
permanently  be  a  strong  missionary  church,  for  only 
a  living  church  can  so  feel  the  value  of  its  blessings 
as  to  be  impelled  to  offer  them  to  the  world.     Hence 
various   influences   may  depress  the  missionary  im- 
pulse,  by  diminishing  the  sense  of  blessing  in  the 
Christian  people.     Worldly  and  unspiritual  living,  in 
which  Christians   sin  against  their   conscience   and 
their  love,  diminishes  the  sense  of  the  preciousness  \ 
of  Christ.     If  a  worldly  and  unspiritual  church  con- 
ducts missions,  it  will  probably  be  languidly  done. 
In  like  manner,  anything  like  scepticism  as  to   the 
great  spiritual  realities  must  diminish  the  force  of  the 
missionary  motive.     In  an  age  of  material  forces  and 
successes,  there  is  constant  temptation  to  see  little 
preciousness  in  a  spiritual  faith,  and  feel  little  im- 
pulse to  extend  it  among  men.     In  fact,  all  demoral- 
izing and  unspiritualizing   influences  of   every  kind 
take  effect  in  weakening  the  missionary  motive.     It 
cannot  be  too  clearly  seen  or  too  firmly  held  for  truth 
that  the  living  Christian  experience,  is  the  indispen- 
sable storehouse  of  power  for  Christian  missions. 


32  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

This  does  not  mean,  however,  that  the  sense  of  the 
excellence  of  our  religion  is  solely  a  matter  of  feel- 
ing, dependent  altogether  upon  our  inner  joy.  The 
sense  of  the  excellence  of  our  religion  can  be  rein- 
forced by  knowledge.  As  acquaintance  with  the 
world  increases,  Christianity  comes  into  comparison 
with  other  faiths,  and  its  superiority  is  tested  and 
confirmed.  With  no  one  could  we  think  for  a  mo- 
ment of  exchanging  religions.  This  may  seem  to  be 
the  utterance  of  pride  or  self-will  or  custom,  affirm- 
ing the  superiority  of  what  is  our  own,  or  of  igno- 
rance, declaring  the  excellence  of  the  only  religion 
that  we  are  acquainted  with.  But  it  need  not  be 
this.  There  is  no  room  for  doubt  anywhere  that  the 
religion  that  we  have  in  Jesus  Christ  infinitely 
excels  all  others.  Comparison  of  the  best  in  our 
religion  with  the  best  in  other  religions  will  confirm 
our  sense  of  the  glory  of  Christianity,  and  show  fresh 
reasons  why  we  should  give  it  to  the  world.  Yet 
we  must  remember  that  the  comparative  study  of 
religions,  taken  by  itself,  makes  no  missionaries, 
nor  can  it  be  relied  upon  to  sustain  the  missionary 
activity  of  the  church.  We  might  discern  ever  so 
clearly  the  excellence  of  Christianity,  and  yet  not  be 
impelled  to  do  anything  tov^^ard  extending  it.  The 
missionary  motive  is  spiritual  at  heart,  springing  from 


THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE  IN   CHRISTIANITY     33 

the  Christian  experience.  Study  may  confirm  this 
motive,  and  general  intelligence  ought  to  bring  all 
dwellers  in  a  Christian  land  to  the  support  of  mis- 
sions; but  the  motive  itself,  if  it  is  to  be  strong 
enough  to  attain  independent  efficiency,  must  be  the 
fruit  of  the  Spirit  working  in  the  Christian  life. 

To  those  who  possess  it,  the  gospel  of  Christ  is  the  I 
awakener  of  love  toward  other  men,  and  this  love  is 
provocative  of  missionary  endeavor.  By  love  is 
meant  that  personal  interest  by  which  one  values 
another,  and  desires  to  do  him  good,  even  though  it 
be  at  cost  to  one's  self.  Love  is  not  to  be  confounded 
with  liking,  which  may  or  may  not  be  its  companion. 
The  Christian  love  for  mankind  is  the  continuation 
on  the  human  plane  of  God's  love  for  the  world,  by 
virtue  of  which  he  came  in  Christ  to  bear  our  bur- 
dens, and  save  us  from  our  sins.  God  loved  the 
world,  and  loves  it  still,  and  Christ  brings  Christians^^ 
to  love  it  with  him.  Such  love  is  evidently  a  matter 
of  the  heart.  To  profess  it  is  not  necessarily  to  have 
it,  and  to  approve  it  is  not  to  be  moved  by  it.  It  is 
a  Christian  fruit,  and  needs  to  be  nourished  and  kept 
alive  from  above.  Evidently  such  love,  where  it 
exists,  is  a  genuine  missionary  force.  Here  is  the 
deepest  and  strongest  of  outgoing  motives  to  effort 

3 


34  A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

for  others'  good.  When  Christians  love  in  fellow- 
ship with  God,  not  in  vain  does  the  world  call  them, 
even  as  it  did  not  call  to  him  in  vain. 

It  is  often  alleged,  however,  that  such  love  has  no 
existence.  Any  love  of  ours  for  distant  and  un- 
known human  beings,  it  is  said,  can  be  nothing  more 
than  a  mere  sentiment,  not  worth  talking  about,  fit 
only  to  be  laughed  at.  It  will  not  survive  the 
discovery  of  the  want  of  liking.  What  is  untested 
love  worth?  and  if  this  alleged  love  were  tested  by 
acquaintance,  it  would  quickly  vanish  away. 

As  to  this,  it  is  very  true  that  we  do  well  to  be 
careful  about  our  claims.  It  is  better  to  show  love 
in  work  than  in  talk.  The  best  that  we  have,  in  any 
following  of  Christ,  is  poor  enough.  Very  likely  we 
might  feel  some  sharp  repulsions  if  we  saw  the 
peoples  to  whom  our  compassionate  thoughts  go  out 
from  afar.  Empty  sentiment  concerning  them  has 
doubtless  often  been  expressed.  Nevertheless,  the 
Christian  interest  in  distant  and  unknown  men  is  no 
poor  and  foolish  thing,  fit  only  to  be  sneered  at. 
Sentimental  it  may  sometimes  be,  but  not  always. 
A  Christlike  love  for  men  who  have  not  been  seen, 
and  who  if  they  were  seen  might  not  be  liked,  has 
existed  times  without  number.  What  is  better,  it 
has  been  tested  and  has  not  been  found  wanting. 


THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE  IN  CHRISTIANITY    35 

Christian  missionaries  are  always  subjected  to  this 
test,  and  it  is  often  a  most  trying  one.  They  often 
find  liking  and  the  sense  of  affinity  conspicuously 
absent  when  they  first  encounter  the  people  to  whom 
they  have  gone  in  the  name  of  the  divine  love.  They 
have  often  borne  testimony  that  nothing  less  than  a 
supernatural  love,  the  gift  of  God  himself,  could 
have  carried  them  through  and  maintained  their 
Christian  purpose,  when  they  were  brought  face 
to  face  with  the  people  with  whom  they  had  to  do. 
Yet  beneath  the  lack  of  liking  there  proved  to  be  a 
vital  strength  of  love.  Likes  and  dislikes  rest  upon 
things  comparatively  superficial,  but  the  Christlike 
love  takes  hold  on  permanent  qualities  and  abiding 
values,  and  is  often  able  to  assert  itself  in  the  face 
of  repulsions  ever  so  sharp  and  painful.  Christian 
acquaintance  with  men  in  all  nations  enhances  our 
sense  of  their  value,  and  reveals  to  us  more  and 
more  in  them  that  is  worthy  of  our  affectionate  in- 
terest. Cynical  contempt  of  human  beings  is  far  too 
common  in  the  world,  and  even  among  Christians, 
but  it  is  not  often  found  in  missionaries.  Love 
stands  the  test,  and  even  increases  under  it;  and 
experience  proves  that  the  power  to  love  like  God 
is  the  crowning  gift  of  grace  to  men  in  Christ. 
It  is   certain  that  the   Christlike  love,  imperfect 


36  A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

though  it  has  always  been,  has  been  most  effective  in 
the  inauguration  and  support  of  Christian  missions.  In 
combination  with  the  fact  that  to  its  possessors  Chris- 
tianity is  the  best  of  all  things  in  religion  and  in  life, 
this  noble  grace  of  love  forms  a  worthy  and  power- 
ful missionary  motive. 

3.  What  is  the  gospel  of  Christ  to  the  men  who 
have  not  yet  received  it?  To  the  men  who  have 
not  yet  received  it,  the  gospel  of  Christ,  or  Chris- 
tianity with  its  blessings  in  religion  and  in  life, 
is  the  good  gift  of  which  they  are  urgently  in 
need. 

This  statement  is  challenged  at  the  outset.  It  is 
sometimes  conceded  that  in  Christianity  we  have 
found  what  constitutes  for  us  the  best  good  in 
religion  and  life,  but  denied  that  Christianity  is 
essential  to  the  best  good  in  religion  and  in  life 
for  some  others.  For  the  peoples  that  have  it, 
Christianity  is  doubtless  the  best ;  but  other  reli- 
gions, it  is  said,  may  be  as  good,  and  even  better, 
for  the  peoples  that  have  been  reared  in  them  and 
are  familiar  with  the  good  that  they  can  do. 

But  this  claim  we  meet  with  a  positive  denial. 
We  affirm  that  there  is  no  good  substitute  for  the 
God  of  Jesus  Christ.     Our  Christian  religion  is  the 


THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE  IN  CHRISTIANITY    37 

religion  of  the  perfectly  good  God,  who  commends 
himself   to  our  confidence  as   the  actually  existing 
God.     The  religion  of  the  good  living  God  is  the 
best  religion   for   all   men.     No  other  can  possibly 
be  so  good   for  any  man.     We  find  truth  in  other 
religions,  and  willingly  recognize  it,  and   acknowl- 
edge   their  value  in  the   history  of  mankind;    but 
there  is  nothing  actual  or  conceivable  that  can  take 
the  place  in  human  life  of  the  good  God  whom  we 
know  in  Jesus  Christ.     When  he  can  be  known,  it 
is  not  a  question  whether  it  is  well  for  any  one  to 
remain  in  ignorance  of  him.      Every  soul  needs  to 
know    him.      The    excellences    of    Christianity  are 
excellences   that  appeal   to   universal   need.      It  is 
not  best  for  any  one  to  hold  a  religion  that  is  ac- 
quainted  with  sin   but  not  with   forgiveness;    that 
holds  a  moral  standard  but  lacks  the  inspiration  to 
virtue  that  comes  from  belief  in  the  eternal  good- 
ness ;    that  has  no  message  of   consolation  for  the 
universal  sorrow;    that  does  not  bring  the  infinite 
and  eternal  goodness  to  the  solution  of  the  mystery 
of  existence.     Yet  these  are  descriptions  of  the  reli- 
gions of  the  world  outside  of  Christianity.     Religion 
is  normal  to   man,  and   religion  of  some  kind  the 
nations  will  have  ;  but  only  that  which  is  best  in 
itself  is  best  for  all  men.     Doubtless  certain  parts  of 


38  A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

mankind  are  trained  to  other  ways  of  thinking  and  of 
life,  and  entertain  ideals  that  render  the  Christian 
view  of  things  strange  to  them,  so  that  it  is  very 
difficult  to  convince  them  that  Christianity  is  better 
than  that  which  they  possess ;  but  this  does  not 
prove  that  they  are  right.  The  fact  that  pessimism 
forms  the  very  atmosphere  of  Indian  thought  does 
not  prove  that  the  Christian  atmosphere  of  hopeful- 
ness would  not  be  better  for  India.  The  best  is  the 
best,  wherever  we  go.  All  men  need  the  gospel  of 
Christ. 

Observation  confirms  the  conviction  that  the  na- 
tions in  the  world  that  do  not  know  Christ  are  desti- 
tute of  the  best,  in  religion  and  in  life.  How  much 
they  lack  because  they  are  destitute  of  the  Christian 
gifts,  they  best  know  who  have  lived  in  non-Chris- 
tian lands  and  sympathetically  entered  into  the  life 
around  them.  Travellers  sometimes  speak  of  being 
impressed  by  the  difference  in  heritage  between  the 
land  of  their  birth  and  the  lands  that  they  are  visit- 
ing. There  is  a  heritage  from  the  Christian  past,  so 
great  as  to  be  almost  unnoticed,  which  we  estimate  at 
its  true  value  only  when  we  think  what  it  would  be 
to  be  without  it.  Christianity  has  wrought  imper- 
fectly everywhere,  and  yet  it  is  a  great  contributor  to 
our  daily  welfare.     What  would  our  life  be  if  the 


THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE  IN  CHRISTIANITY    39 

Christian  institutions  and  customs  about  us,  the  lit- 
erary treasures  that  Christ  has  influenced,  the  social 
standards  and  spirit  that  he  has  introduced,  the 
Christian  habits  of  feeling  and  action,  and  the  Chris- 
tian element  in  our  personal  heredity,  were  all  blotted 
out  ?  But  to  suppose  it  is  to  picture  the  condition 
in  which  the  most  of  men  are  found  to-day.  The 
nations  of  the  world  are  destitute  of  the  entire  heri- 
tage of  Christianity.  They  have  nothing,  and  know 
nothing,  of  its  precious  gifts  and  inspiring  influences. 
They  do  not  know  that  the  living  God  is  holy  and 
forever  gracious,  but  inherit  out  of  a  past  that  is  un- 
touched by  any  influence  from  belief  in  such  a  being. 
We  will  frankly  recognize  all  the  good  that  is  in 
them,  and  gladly  acknowledge  that  the  common 
virtues  of  humanity  are  everywhere,  less  or  more. 
Nevertheless  by  all  the  evil  and  all  the  defect  in 
the  life  of  the  world  we  cannot  fail  to  be  affected. 
Such  a  condition  must  surely  move  our  compassion 
and  summon  us  to  help,  if  we  have  in  us  anything 
that  is  either  Christian  or  humane. 

The  call  is  strengthened  by  our  conviction  that 
Christianity  is  the  appropriate  crown  for  all  life  that 
is  human,  Christ  is  the  true  head  of  humanity,  and 
his  revelation  brings  what  all  souls  need  and  were 
created  to  possess.     Human  destiny  can  be  fulfilled 


40  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

only  by  such  fellowship  with  God  as  Christ  intro- 
duces. "There  is  no  soul  that  would  not  be  spirit- 
ually richer  and  forever  better  for  knowing  what 
we  know  and  learning  what  we  experience.  Taking 
the  world  exactly  as  we  find  it,  we  can  fairly  say 
that  Christ,  with  his  revelation  of  God  and  his  gift 
of  life,  is  what  the  world  most  urgently  and  im- 
mediately needs.  Both  individually  and  collec- 
tively, men  are  suffering  for  exactly  this.  Souls 
need  this,  and  society  needs  this  also.  All  men  need 
the  truest  and  the  best.  All  need  light  and  truth, 
love  and  goodness,  holiness  and  hope.  Therefore, 
all  need  to  know  the  only  true  God,  and  Jesus 
Christ  whom  he  hath  sent. 

This  broad  statement  of  the  need  is  enough  to 
/justify  a  missionary  motive.  Let  the  specifications 
of  necessity  that  fall  under  it  be  what  they  may, 
it  is  the  universal  need  of  the  entire  grace  and 
gift  of  Christ  that  draws  us  on  to  missionary  effort. 

When  the  modern  missionary  movement  began, 
conviction  concerning  the  world's  need  of  Christ 
existed  mainly  in  one  form ;  or  rather,  this  one  form 
of  the  conviction  surpassed  all  others  in  immediate 
influence.  Modern  missions  were  undertaken  under 
the  influence  of  the  conviction  that  aU  who  are  des- 


THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE  IN   CHRISTIANITY    41 

titute  of  Christianity  are  inevitably  destined  to  end- 
less misery,  —  the  only  possible  exception  being  those 
who  die  in  infancy.  This  doctrine  of  the  hopeless- 
ness of  all  the  heathen  seemed  to  those  who  held  it 
an  irresistible  conclusion  from  Christian  premises. 
It  was  generally  held  as  certain  that  salvation  is 
possible  only  in  this  life,  and  only  through  conscious 
personal  acceptance  of  Christ  as  Saviour.  From  this, 
if  held  unconditionally  and  without  modification,  it 
was  a  necessary  conclusion  that  for  those  who  had 
never  heard  of  Christ  there  was  no  possibility  of  any- 
thing but  hopeless  ruin  at  the  end  of  the  present  life. 
This  belief,  which  was  held  throughout  the  Christian 
world  without  any  considerable  dissent,  naturally  and 
properly  had  great  power  as  a  missionary  motive. 
Just  as  they  ought.  Christians  responded  with  the 
gift  of  the  gospel  to  the  appeal  of  an  entire  heathen 
world  that  was  hopelessly  and  swiftly  perishing. 

But  this  belief  is  not  as  prevalent  and  effective  as 
it  was  a  century  ago.  It  has  been  compared  with  the 
facts  of  life  and  with  other  Christian  beliefs,  es- 
pecially with  the  message  that  we  must  bear  to  the 
heathen  if  we  go  to  them.  It  has  been  perceived 
that  if  all  who  have  never  heard  of  Christ  are  hope- 
lessly doomed,  serious  questions  follow.  It  follows 
that  God  has  created  the  greater  part  of  the  human 


42  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

race  incapable  of  obtaining  endless  welfare  and 
escaping  endless  woe,  for  they  have  no  opportunity  of 
doing  the  one  thing  that  is  indispensable  to  that  end. 
He  has  placed  the  most  of  his  human  creatures,  thus 
far,  where  salvation  from  sin  and  doom  is  beyond 
their  reach.  This  opens  the  question  of  his  char- 
acter, and  compels  us  to  inquire  whether  we  can  tell 
men  that  he  is  altogether  good,  —  as  we  must  if  we 
are  to  do  effective  missionary  work.  In  view  of  this 
question,  and  of  other  influences  that  need  not  be 
enumerated  here,  belief  in  the  inevitable  doom  of  all 
who  are  born  where  Christ  is  not  heard  of  has  lost 
much  of  its  vitality.  By  many  Christians  it  has  been 
distinctly  abandoned,  and  with  many  more  it  has 
ceased  to  be  influential.  This  belief  does  not  now 
contribute  that  leading  motive  to  missionary  effort 
which  it  provided  when  modern  missions  were  under- 
taken, and  it  does  not  seem  likely  that  it  will  ever 
return  to  its  former  position  of  power. 

Many  have  felt  that  the  vitality  of  missions  de- 
pended upon  the  retention  of  this  belief,  and  that  to 
relinquish  it  was  to  lose  the  entire  missionary  in- 
spiration. Doubt  concerning  the  absolutely  univer- 
sal doom  has  often  been  said  to  "  cut  the  nerve  of 
missions,"  and  paralyze  the  energy  of  the  Christian 
spirit  for  the  work.     No  one  would  seriously  pros- 


THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE  IN  CHRISTIANITY    43 

ecute  missions,  it  has  been  said,  if  doubt  of  the  doom 
of  all  the  heathen  were  entertained.  It  is  an  im- 
portant question  whether  this  is  true.  It  is  certain 
that  this  belief  is  not  present  with  the  Christian 
people  in  its  former  force,  and  that  it  shows  no  signs 
of  regaining  its  lost  influence.  In  view  of  the  un- 
questionable retirement  of  this  belief  from  prom- 
inence, it  is  important  that  we  ascertain  whether  or 
not  the  work  of  missions  is  thereby  doomed  to  de- 
cline through  the  loss  of  its  indispensable  motive. 
Is  there,  or  is  there  not,  a  valid  and  available  mis- 
sionary motive  apart  from  belief  in  the  hopeless  doom 
of  all  who  have  never  heard  of  Christ?  Is  there  a 
motive  which  those  who  no  longer  hold  the  ancient 
belief  may  reasonably  be  expected  to  honor  with 
enthusiastic  consecration  ? 

An  answer  is  suggested  by  the  fact  that  the  weak- 
ening of  this  conviction  has  not  actually  quenched 
interest  in  missions.  Efficient  motives  certainly  seem 
to  have  outlived  the  change  concerning  the  ancient 
motive.  Our  own  time,  in  fact,  has  witnessed  two 
parallel  movements.  One  is  the  wide  diffusion  of 
doubt  whether  all  heathens  are  necessarily  lost  for- 
ever, and  the  other  is  the  wide  diffusion  of  interest  in 
missions  to  the  heathen.  Side  by  side  with  the  change 
in  convictions  concerning  the  universal  doom  of  those 


44  A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

who  have  not  heard  of  Christ,  the  great  modern 
missionary  movement  has  gone  on.  It  is  true  that 
these  two  movements  have  not  included  precisely  the 
same  persons  in  their  spheres  of  influence ;  but  it  is 
equally  true  that  they  have  not  been  mutually  ex- 
clusive, and  that  very  many  of  the  same  persons 
have  been  affected  by  both.  The  two  have  been 
simultaneous  movements  of  Christian  thought  and 
feeling  in  the  same  general  community,  and  they 
have  been  so  far  co-existent  that  those  who  felt  the 
one  have  more  or  less  felt  the  other  also.  The  re- 
sult is  that  many  men  and  women  who  no  longer 
hold  the  old  belief  in  the  universal  doom  of  the  un- 
privileged have  given  themselves  to  missions  and  are 
laboring  most  zealously  on  the  missionary  field. 
Further,  it  is  not  true  that  conversation  among  the 
supporters  of  missions  at  home  would  show  this  change 
in  convictions  to  have  been  largely  influential  in  with- 
drawing contributions  from  the  missionary  treasuries. 
The  experience  of  recent  time,  which  is  the  only  experi- 
ence that  bears  upon  the  subject,  does  not  show  that 
the  missionary  spirit  depends  for  its  existence  or  its  con- 
tinued vigor  upon  the  retention  of  the  old  belief  con- 
cerning the  doom  of  all  who  have  not  heard  of  Christ. 
The  fact  is  that  the  missionary  work  itself  is  one  of 
the  responsible  causes  of  the  decline  of  that  belief. 


THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE   IN  CHRISTIANITY    45 

After  what  has  been  said  of  the  gospel,  and  what 
it  is  to  God  and  men,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  dwell 
at  length  upon  the  sufficiency  of  the  missionary  mo- 
tive without  aid  from  belief  in  the  doom  of  all  the 
heathen.  Apart  from  this,  the  missionary  motive  is 
valid  and  available.  If  we  held  that  there  was  no 
valid  motive  apart  from  this  belief,  we  should  there- 
by be  compelled  to  regard  the  rejecters  of  the  belief 
as  justly  exempt  from  missionary  appeals,  and  under 
no  obligation,  with  their  views,  to  do  anything  for 
missions,  —  a  view  that  we  should  be  very  cautious 
about  maintaining.  But  the  appeal  stands  secure. 
The  profound  spiritual  need  of  the  world  tells  its 
own  story  and  brings  its  sufficient  argum.ent  for 
help.  In  the  missionary  work  we  partake  with  God 
in  his  great  and  most  delightful  work  of  giving  to 
the  world  the  revelation  of  himself  and  the  experi- 
ence of  his  redeeming  love.  We  also  fulfil  our  own 
duty  and  privilege  in  handing  on  to  the  destitute  our 
own  precious  possession  of  the  best  in  religion  and 
in  life.  That  the  nations  of  the  world,  being  with- 
out the  knowledge  of  Christ,  are  without  the  best  in 
religion  and  in  life  ;  that  for  want  of  this  knowledge 
they  are  unutterably  depressed  and  degraded  in  the 
character  of  their  living  ;  that  as  men  and  as  peoples 
they  need  the  spiritual  light  and  life  which  we  know 


46  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

through  Christ ;  this,  together  with  God's  interest  in 
the  matter  and  call  to  us  to  work  with  him,  is  a  more 
than  sujHicient  motive.  If  we  withhold  ourselves  from 
the  work,  it  will  not  be  for  want  of  sufficient  motive, 
but  for  want  of  worthy  response. 

Many  Christians  are  haunted  by  the  fear  that  the 
gospel  would  not  be  preached  to  the  heathen  if  it 
were  believed  that  they  might  hereafter  have  oppor- 
tunity to  hear  it  and  receive  it.  The  motive  would 
be  wanting  if  we  were  not  convinced  that  the  present 
opportunity  was  the  only  one.  This  is  not  the  place 
to  discuss  how  the  facts  may  stand  with  reference  to 
this  question  of  future  opportunity  to  be  saved ;  but 
no  discussion  of  Christian  missions  ought  to  evade 
the  question  whether  all  true  incentive  to  missionary 
work  would  be  gone,  as  some  fear  that  it  would,  if 
it  were  thought  that  the  heathen  might  hereafter 
believe  on  him  of  whom  they  have  not  heard  in 
this  life.  Does  such  a  belief  destroy  the  missionary 
motive  ? 

The  missionary  motive  that  has  now  been  pre- 
sented, such  a  belief  does  not  destroy  or  in  the  least 
degree  weaken.  With  such  a  belief,  the  case  would 
stand  much  as  it  stands  in  the  general  preaching  of 
the  gospel  at  home.     We  preach  the  gospel  to  the 


THE   MISSIONARY  MOTIVE  IN  CHRISTIANITY    47 

young,  although  we  have  reason  to  hope  that  if  they 
will  not  hear  it  now  we  may  be  allowed  to  offer  it 
to  them  again.  If  we  know  and  love  the  gospel,  the 
time-element  and  the  number  of  opportunities  count 
but  little  in  determining  whether  we  shall  proclaim 
it.  The  motive  lies  in  the  gospel  itself  and  its 
adaptation  to  the  permanent  needs  of  men. 

The  state  of  the  case  may  be  presented  by  asking 
three  questions. 

What  is  it  to  be  saved  ?  To  be  saved,  at  what- 
ever period,  is  to  be  brought  out  of  sinfulness  with 
all  that  it  implies,  into  moral  fellowship  with  God 
and  all  that  it  implies.  Salvation  consists  in  recon- 
ciliation with  God  and  moral  transformation.  It 
turns,  on  the  human  side,  upon  the  choice  of  the 
heart  and  the  act  of  the  will.  What  is  essential  to 
it  is  that  choice  and  action  to  which  Christ  in  his 
gospel  summons  us.  If  men  are  ever  saved  at  all, 
it  will  be  by  receiving,  in  some  form,  that  divine 
grace  which  Christ  is  now  proclaiming  and  has  sent 
us  to  proclaim.  If  after  a  million  years  a  man  who 
is  now  alive  is  saved,  it  will  be  by  doing  what  Christ  | 
calls  him  to  do  now. 

What  is  the  best  time  to  be  saved  ?  Surely  now. 
"  Now  is  the  day  of  salvation,"  —  now  the  day  has 
come  and  salvation  is  possible.     The  sooner  the  bet- 


48  A   STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

ter,  for  any  man.  The  sooner  any  man  breaks  with 
sin  and  comes  out  of  his  darkness  and  receives  the 
blessing  of  the  divine  salvation,  the  better.  Why 
should  any  one  be  expected,  or  encouraged,  or  com- 
pelled, to  live  this  life  through  and  go  into  another 
without  the  great  experience  ?  Why  should  evil  be 
allowed  a  longer  time  to  do  its  work  ?  Why  should 
God  have  to  wait  for  the  soul,  and  the  soul  for  God  ? 
The  golden  time  is  now,  because  salvation  is  so  need- 
ful and  so  good  a  gift. 

What  is  the  moral  character  of  declining  to  help 
a  man  to  salvation  because  this  is  not  thought  to  be 
his  last  call?  What  is  the  moral  character  and 
quality  of  one  who  says,  "  I  trust  you  will  find  the 
best  of  gifts  some  time  ;  I  might  offer  it  to  you  now 
as  well  as  not,  but  I  expect  some  one  else  will  do  it 
later,  and  so  I  let  you  go  on  in  your  sin  and  dark- 
ness ;  I  have  reason  to  hope  that  in  the  course  of 
eternity  some  messenger  of  grace  will  find  you  and 
bring  you  what  I  might  bring  to-day?"  If  we  care 
for  the  bringing  of  men  to  God,  we  shall  wish  them 
to  be  brought  as  soon  as  possible,  and  be  unwilling 
to  leave  them  to  any  future.  The  Christian  motive 
to  missions  remains  in  full  force  as  long  as  it  is  true 
that  a  v/orld  of  men  is  living  without  the  light  of 
God  and  cannot  now  find  it  without  such  help  as  we 


THE  MISSIONARY  MOTIVE  IN  CHRISTIANITY    49 

might  give.  The  sight  of  such  a  world  should  surely 
be  sufficient  to  awaken  the  Christian  compassion  and 
move  the  Christian  helpfulness.  Fellowship  with 
God  and  loyalty  to  Christ  absolutely  require  that 
we  do  the  missionary  work  because  of  the  present 
need.  One  who  will  not  join  in  it,  simply  does  not 
stand  with  God. 

So,  to  sum  the  matter  up,  the  Christian  missionary' 
motive  is  threefold.  We  are  summoned  by  God  in 
Christ  to  join  with  him  in  doing  that  work  of  saving 
grace  toward  men  which  is  nearest  to  his  heart,  and 
we  cannot  refuse :  loyalty  to  God  and  Christ  con- 
strains us.  We  have  received  in  Christ  the  best 
good  in  life,  and  are  impelled  from  within  to  impart 
it :  love  to  men  constrains  us.  The  world  needs  the 
gift,  and  needs  it  now:  and  the  tremendous  want 
constrains  us.  The  threefold  motive  is  justified  by 
present  facts  and  by  eternal  realities,  and  there  is 
nothing  that  can  legitimately  deprive  it  of  its  force, 
except  the  full  accomplishment  of  the  end.  No 
special  views  are  needed  to  enforce  the  motive. 
Taking  the  world  exactly  as  it  is  and  as  all  sound 
knowledge  finds  it,  the  motive  is  sufficient,  i  But  it 
is  a  spiritual  motive,  and  must  therefore  be  spirit- 
ually discerned. 


Ill 

THE  OBJECT  IN   CHRISTIAN   MISSIONS 

A  WORK  SO  great  and  so  honorable  as  that  of  Chris- 
tian missions  ought  to  be  most  intelligently  conducted. 
Random  exertion  of  energy  is  worthy  neither  of 
human  judgment  nor  of  the  Christian  name,  and  for 
every  reason  there  ought  to  be  clear  vision  of  the 
end  that  is  to  be  sought.  It  is  not  enough  to  say 
that  the  work  of  missions  is  intended  for  the  saving 
of  men,  for  that  is  language  that  needs  to  be 
defined,  and  the  saving  of  men  may  be  sought 
in  various  ways.  This  designation  of  the  end 
in  view  leaves  methods  still  indeterminate,  and  a 
more  definite  statement  is  required  if  the  work  is 
to  be  done  with  full  intelligence.  There  needs  to 
be  such  a  thing  as  missionary  policy,  or  administra- 
tion wisely  planned  and  steadily  directed;  and  in 
order  to  this,  the  end  in  view  must  take  definite  and 
specific  form  in  the  minds  of  the  Christian  people. 
Hence  we  have  to  inquire  what  is  the  object  in  Chris- 
tian missions. 

There  are  two  general  answers  to  this  question, 
determined  by  the  view  that  is  entertained  of   the 


THE  OBJECT  IN  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS        51 

purpose  and  method  of  God  in  the  world,  and  the 
attitude  of  his  grace  toward  men.  Corresponding 
to  these  two  answers,  there  are  two  general  theories 
of  missions. 

One  may  be  called  the  theory  of  heralding.  Ac- 
cording to  this  the  object  in  missions  is  that  the  gos- 
pel may  be  preached  to  men,  that  they  may  hear  it, 
and  that  as  many  of  them  as  believe  may  be  saved. 
The  range  of  time  that  is  generally  contemplated  in 
this  view  of  the  matter  is  short.  This  view  is  held 
most  definitely  by  those  who  believe  that  the  end  of 
the  existing  order  of  things  is  soon  to  come,  in  the 
second  coming  of  Christ.  Only  a  little  time  remains 
before  the  great  transformation  :  of  course,  therefore, 
large  and  permanent  results  from  the  gospel  in  the 
present  order  of  things  are  not  to  be  expected.  Life 
as  it  now  exists  is  not  to  be  transformed  by  Christ. 
A  certain  part  of  those  who  hear  the  proclamation 
of  the  gospel  will  be  saved,  and  the  saving  of  these 
from  among  the  mass  of  mankind  is  often  spoken  of 
as  "  the  gathering-out  of  the  elect."  To  all  hearers 
of  the  gospel,  however,  the  opportunity  to  be  saved 
is  given,  so  far  as  it  can  be  given  through  hearing, 
and  it  is  desirable  that  it  be  afforded  to  as  many 
as  possible  in  the  little  time  that  remains.  Upon 
those  who   hear  is   thus   thrown   the   responsibility 


52  A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

of  their  own  salvation,  so  that  if  now  they  are  lost 
it  is  not  the  fault  of  God,  or  of  the  Christian  people. 
This  view  of  the  object  in  missions  would  lead  mis- 
sionaries to  speak  the  word  of  divine  grace  to  as 
many  as  possible,  not  staying  long  to  impart  further 
instruction,  or  taking  pains  to  provide  for  perma- 
nence in  results. 

The  other  theory  is  the  theory  of  planting.  Ac- 
cording to  this,  the  object  in  missions  is  that  Christ 
may  ultimately  become  known  to  all  mankind,  and 
Christianity  may  be  established  as  the  religion  of  the 
whole  world.  This  view  can  be  held,  of  course,  only 
by  those  who  think  there  is  yet  time  for  permanent 
results  to  be  obtained  in  the  present  order.  It  is  in- 
consistent with  the  ordinary  second-advent  doctrine. 
If  we  hold  this  conception  of  the  object,  we  seek  for 
Christianity  the  opportunity  to  do  its  age-long  work 
of  usefulness.  We  seek  the  conversion  of  individ- 
uals to  Christ,  we  train  converts  in  Christian  char- 
acter, we  labor  to  fit  new  Christians  for  permanent 
usefulness,  we  build  up  the  institutions  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  we  seek  to  leaven  the  entire  life  of  the 
community  with  Christian  influence  and  quality.  In 
a  word,  we  labor  with  the  purpose  that  the  people  and 
their  life  shall  become  and  remain  thoroughly  Chris- 
tian, and  the  human  race  at  length  be  Christianized. 


THE  OBJECT  IN  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS        53 

Both  these  views  are  held  by  missionaries,  and  by 
Christians  at  home  ;  and,  on  account  of  the  popular 
confusion  of  mind  concerning  the  second  advent, 
many  persons  hold  elements  from  both  in  unstable 
combination  and  with  uncertain  grasp.  Both  meth- 
ods seek  the  salvation  of  men,  both  command  sincere 
consecration,  and  under  the  influence  of  both  useful 
work  is  done.  But  both  cannot  be  equally  true,  for 
in  vital  points  they  contradict  each  other:  and  the 
latter  is  the  truer.  The  proper  object  of  missionary 
labor  is  to  introduce  Christ  to  mankind,  and  plant 
Christianity  as  a  permanent  blessing  to  the  world. 

The  full  vindication  of  this  judgment  in  favor  of 
the  theory  of  planting  would  involve  the  discussion 
of  the  question  of  the  second  advent  of  Christ,  which 
cannot  here  be  undertaken.  But  we  may  briefly 
compare  the  two  theories,  of  heralding  and  of  plant- 
ing, to  see  which  of  them  better  corresponds  to  the 
character  of  Christianity  and  the  needs  of  the  world. 

At  the  outset,  there  is  one  motive,  often  though 
not  necessarily  associated  with  the  theory  of  herald- 
ing, that  must  be  rejected  as  no  Christian  motive. 
It  is  often  held  that  in  this  rapid  work  the  gospel 
is  not  to  be  preached  mainly  in  order  that  it  may  be 
believed  unto  salvation,  but  rather  "  for  a  witness," 
—  which  is  taken  to  mean  "for  a  witness  against " 


64  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

the  hearers  when  they  meet  the  judgment  of  God. 
The  hearing  of  the  gospel  marks  a  turning-point, 
both  in  experience  and  in  destiny.  When  once  men 
have  heard  the  gospel,  they  will  be  saved  if  they  be- 
lieve, and  justly  condemned  if  they  do  not.  Only  a 
few  will  be  saved  by  the  missionary  preaching :  the 
elect  will  be  gathered  out  of  the  mass,  and  the  many 
will  remain  indifferent.  But  the  blame  of  their  ruin 
will  be  upon  themselves,  not  upon  God  or  the  Chris- 
tian people,  and  it  is  to  insure  this  result  that  the 
gospel  is  preached  to  them  for  a  witness.  But  this 
is  no  Christian  truth.  Such  teaching  cannot  truly 
represent  the  motive  of  God  the  Saviour.  We  must 
maintain  that  God  acts  in  good  faith  in  the  offers  of 
his  grace,  or  Christianity  becomes  a  delusion.  We 
must  preserve  our  own  good  faith  also  in  conveying 
the  offer  of  grace,  or  our  hearers  may  rise  in  the 
judgment  to  condemn  us.  If  God  acts  in  good 
faith,  he  sends  the  gospel  of  redeeming  grace  to 
men  in  order  that  they  may  be  saved  by  it,  not 
in  order  that  they  may  be  more  justly  lost  because 
of  hearing  it.  If  we  are  to  preach  in  good  faith, 
we  must  preach  in  order  to  save.  Any  scheme 
that  involves  the  preaching  of  Christ  to  men  with 
the  concealed  design  of  deepening  the  deserved  con- 
demnation of  the  many  who  are  expected  to  reject 


THE  OBJECT  IN  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS        55 

it,  is  irreconcilable  with  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  im- 
possible to  God.  No  allowance  should  be  made  for 
any  such  unchristian  motive  in  our  plans  for  Chris- 
tian missions,  and  we  must  hold  no  theory  of  missions 
that  implies  it. 

The  theory  of  heralding,  or  rapid  proclamation, 
appeals  to  many  because  it  seems  simple,  direct, 
straightforward.  We  wish  to  save  men,  do  we  not? 
Then  let  us  give  them  the  direct,  simple,  saving 
message,  looking  no  farther,  adding  nothing  to  the 
essentials.  The  work  that  this  theory  contemplates 
looks  simple  also.  "  Go,  preach,  move  from  place 
to  place,  tell  the  story  so  simply  that  it  will  not  take 
long,  evangelize  rapidly,  reach  multitudes  in  little 
time  :  "  this  is  attractive.  It  seems  promising,  with 
the  promise  that  accompanies  works  of  faith.  The 
world  can  be  very  quickly  evangelized,  surely,  if  we 
thus  "  attempt  great  things  for  God." 

Yet  if  the  work  is  genuine  it  may  not  be  so  simple, 
or  so  swift.  Of  course  a  herald  must  stay  long 
enough  to  make  sure  that  his  message  is  understood. 
A  mere  utterance  of  something  unintelligible  to  the 
hearer  is  waste  of  time  and  labor,  and  God  cannot 
intend  that  missionary  work  should  be  made  up  of 
such  activity  as  this.  But  if  a  man  stays  where  he 
has  spoken  till  he  is  sure  that  his  message  has  even 


56  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

begun  to  be  understood,  he  will  find  his  swift  work 
already  much  delayed.  Understanding  of  such  a 
message  comes  slowly.  Practical  questions  will  arise 
while  he  is  still  expounding  it,  and  his  work  of  proc- 
lamation may  even  pass  into  that  of  planting,  if  he 
merely  stops  long  enough  to  see  that  his  proclamation 
reaches  the  minds  of  those  who  hear. 

The  fact  is  that  if  we  are  called  to  introduce  the 
religion  of  Christ  in  good  faith  to  new  regions,  we 
are  called  to  introduce  it  in  such  manner  that  it  may 
do  there  its  full  and  characteristic  work.  We  carry 
Christianity  to  new  peoples  in  order  that  they  may 
come  to  have  all  that  it  can  give  them.  But  no  one 
can  possibly  suppose  that  the  saving  of  the  first 
hearers  is  all  that  Christianity  can  do  for  a  people. 
That,  in  fact,  is  but  a  very  small  part  of  its  blessing, 
for  it  marks  only  the  entrance  of  a  new  power,  by 
which  much  is  yet  to  be  accomplished.  Christianity 
is  adapted  to  enter  into  life,  social  as  well  as  per- 
sonal, gradually  transforming  what  it  touches.  It 
cannot  do  as  much  for  the  first  hearers  of  its  mes- 
sage as  it  can  for  the  next  generation,  born  under 
its  influence,  and  for  the  tenth  generation  it  can  do 
far  more  yet.  Nowhere  has  Christianity  more  than 
begun  to  do  its  proper  work  for  any  people  in  con- 
sequence  of   missions.      If  we   think   we   can   give 


THE  OBJECT  IN  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS        51 

Christianity  to  a  people  by  a  rapid  proclamation,  we 
do  not  know  what  Christianity  really  is.  We  often 
speak  of  "  giving  the  gospel  to  the  world ; "  but  by 
this  we  ought  to  mean  such  a  giving  of  the  gospel 
to  the  world  that  the  world  shall  have  the  gospel, 
and  all  its  blessings ;  and  this  cannot  be  done,  ex- 
cept through  long  lapse  of  time.  The  giving  of 
the  gospel  to  Britain,  meant  for  Britain  infinitely 
more  than  the  conversion  of  the  first  hearers :  it 
meant  the  gift  of  all  the  British  Christian  life  that 
has  followed,  and  all  that  is  to  follow  yet.  Chris- 
tianity cannot  do  its  work  for  a  people  without  long 
time  to  work  in.  Hence  if  we  are  to  give  it  to  the 
world  in  good  faith,  we  must  be  planters,  not  mere 
hastening  heralds.  We  are  introducing  a  revolution- 
ary power  that  will  require  ages  for  its  full  work, 
and  we  must  proceed  in  the  manner  that  the  nature 
of  such  a  power  requires. 

The  work  of  planting  Christianity  for  permanence, 
we  may  add,  requires  the  exertion  of  the  entire 
Christian  force,  and  calls  into  exercise  the  entire 
Christian  motive  and  spirit ;  and  this  is  an  argument 
in  favor  of  it. 

If  we  go  into  Korea,  for  example,  on  the  principle 
and  method  of  planting,  it  means  that  we  shall  sit 


58  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN   MISSIONS 

down  there  in  Korea,  to  stay  and  work,  we  and  our 
successors,  until  Korea  needs  our  Christian  labors 
no  longer.  How  long  it  will  take  we  do  not  know, 
except  that  the  time  will  certainly  be  very  long. 
We  shall  not  be  driven  out :  if  we  have  to  flee,  we 
shall  return :  we  are  there,  we  and  our  successors, 
to  stay  till  our  work  is  done.  Meanwhile,  what  is 
the  work  that  we  have  in  hand?     Our  work  includes 

/  all  kinds  and  forms  of  Christian  effort.  We  must 
proclaim  the  gospel  to  the  heathen  with  all  zeal  and 

;  love  and  patience,  watching  that  they  may  under- 
stand ;  gather  in  the  fruits  of  our  labor  when  they 
are  ready  ;  organize  wise  and  helpful  Christian  insti- 
tutions; provide  the  means  of  education,  and  pa- 
tiently pursue  the  labor  that  education  implies  ;  help 
in  building  up  the  pure  family ;  give  training  in  all 
holy  and  useful  life;  introduce  far-reaching  Chris- 
tian influences  to  the  general  society  of  the  land; 
plan  for  aid  to  all  useful  reforms  in  the  national  life ; 
labor  to  establish  a  permanent  Christian  people  who 
will  carry  on  the  work  that  we  have  begun  and  be 
an  abiding  gift  of  God  to  the  nation.  Men  who  are 
engaged  in  this  work  need  to  be  zealous  in  preaching, 
wise  in  judgment,  far-seeing  in  counsel,  compre- 
hensive in  plans,  alert  in  action,  versatile  in  powers, 
patient  in  waiting,  untiring  in  love,  unlimited  in  un- 


THE   OBJECT  IN  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS        59 

selfishness.  There  is  need  of  saints,  scholars,  and 
statesmen ;  of  evangelists,  teachers,  and  social  econ- 
omists ;  and  of  all  these  full  of  the  mind  of  Christ. 

Compared  with  this,  the  idea  of  missions  that  pro- 
claim but  do  not  seek  to  plant  seems  shallow  and 
evasive.  It  omits  the  larger  and  more  exacting 
works,  and  leaves  unused  some  of  the  finest  Christian 
qualities.  It  encourages  the  laborer  to  be  satisfied 
with  utterance.  It  inspires  him  to  speed  on  from 
place  to  place,  and  even  to  speed  the  more  swiftly 
if  his  labor  seems  to  be  in  vain.  It  confines  the 
Christian  labor  in  missions  mainly  to  seed-sowing, 
which  is  a  far  lighter  task  than  cultivation  and 
harvesting.  It  assumes  that  sowing  is  normal  when 
there  is  no  expectation  of  harvest.  It  does  not  call 
into  action  the  whole  Christian,  or  do  justice  to  the 
whole  of  Christianity. 

Now  the  presumption  is  that  Christ  will  demand, 
in  the  missionary  service,  all  that  his  people  have 
and  are.  It  is  to  be  expected,  and  hoped,  that  the 
work  of  missions  will  involve  the  hardest,  most 
various,  and  most  exacting  labor,  and  will  require 
the  utmost  love,  zeal,  wisdom,  and  patience.  The 
largest,  heaviest  task,  most  comprehensive  and  endur- 
ing, is  the  one  that  will  be  laid  upon  those  who 
enter  the   fellowship   of    Christ  who   died  for  the 


60  A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

world,  and  is  the  one  that  they  ought  to  seek  and 
welcome.  The  vast  work  of  planting  Christianity 
thus  corresponds  far  better  to  the  Christian  spirit 
and  call  than  the  easier  and  less  exacting  work  that 
consists  in  heralding  alone. 

What  we  gain  by  thus  defining  the  object  in 
missions  is  this,  that  we  are  able  to  identify  the 
point  to  which  labor  should  be  immediately  directed, 
and  the  form  that  labor  should  take.  The  definition 
that  has  now  been  given,  —  that  the  object  is  the 
planting  of  Christianity  for  permanence  in  new 
regions,  —  determines  the  point  toward  which  the 
great  missionary  effort  should  be  directed,  both  in 
the  large  and  in  detail. 

More  specifically,  putting  our  definition  into  form 
for  practical  application  and  use,  we  may  say  that 
the  object  in  Christian  missions  is  the  raising-up  and 
training  of  a  body  of  Christian  people,  who  can 
carry  on  the  Christian  work  of  their  own  country. 
This  is  the  first  step  in  planting  Christianity,  —  to 
make  Christians,  by  the  blessing  of  God  on  our 
labors,  and  to  make  them  in  such  numbers,  and  train 
them  to  such  efficiency,  that  they  can  evangelize 
their  countrymen  and  render  Christianity  effective  in 
their  national  life. 


THE  OBJECT  IN  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS        61 

It  is  frequently  assumed  that  the  world  is  to 
be  evangelized  throughout  by  missionaries  from 
Christian  lands ;  but  it  is  not  so.  It  is  a  serious 
mistake  to  suppose  that  the  great  nations  of  the 
world  can  be  evangelized  by  foreigners,  or  that 
such  an  undertaking  ought  to  be  contemplated 
in  our  missionary  plans.  Any  country  must  be 
evangelized  chiefly  by  its  own  people.  It  is  the 
work  of  foreign  laborers  to  bring  into  existence  a 
native  evangelizing  force,  and  a  body  of  Christians 
that  can  permanently  maintain  Christianity  in  the 
future.  That  is  to  say,  it  is  the  purpose  in  missions 
to  raise  up  a  native  church.  Missions  that  do  not 
accomplish  this  are  not  in  the  best  sense  successful, 
and  missionary  effort  that  does  not  hold  this  as  its 
ultimate  end  is  not  well  directed.  There  can  be 
no  substitute  for  a  native  church. 

Reasons  for  this  estimate  of  the  native  church 
may  easily  be  given.  One  reason  is,  that  complete 
evangelization  from  Christian  lands  would  imply  a 
blending  of  life  between  the  Christian  and  non- 
Christian  parts  of  mankind  that  cannot  occur.  The 
complete  evangelization  of  India,  for  example,  can- 
not be  accomplished  by  a  few  missionaries,  or  by 
many.  It  is  necessary  that  the  work  become  uni- 
versal.     The    religion   must  permeate   the   common 


62  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

life,  and  be  illustrated  and  commended  in  the  com- 
mon industries  and  the  daily  experiences  of  all 
classes  of  the  people.  But  western  Christians 
cannot  go  and  live  in  India,  in  such  numbers  as 
would  be  necessary  to  make  it  permanently  a 
Christian  country.  Differences  of  race,  climate,  and 
habits  will  prevent  one  part  of  humanity  from  pour- 
ing itself  with  transforming  abundance  and  energy 
into  the  life  of  another  part. 

Another  reason  is  that  foreigners  are  not  perma- 
nently the  best  workers,  among  any  people.  Differ- 
ences in  mind,  language,  training,  and  life  disqualify 
almost  all  men  from  being  permanent  leaders  of  a 
race  or  nationality  not  their  own.  If  there  are  ex- 
ceptions, they  are  rare.  Special  representatives  of  a 
religion,  who  may  possibly  be  accused  of  profes- 
sionalism, can  never  completely  win  a  people.  Be- 
ginnings may  well  be  made  under  foreign  influence, 
as  in  the  introduction  of  Christianity  they  must  be ; 
but  a  great  national  movement  is  not  to  be  expected, 
until  enough  of  the  people  themselves  have  been 
Christianized  to  form  a  leading  and  persuasive  force, 
able  to  influence  the  mass  of  their  fellows. 

And,  yet  further,  it  is  not  the  way  of  the  Christian 
spirit  for  foreign  influence  permanently  to  dominate 
the  religious  life  of  any  people.     Foreign  influence 


THE   OBJECT  IN  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS        63 

may  introduce  Christianity,  but  if  it  were  continued 
too  long  it  would  inevitably  deprive  the  native 
Christian  church  of  its  rights  of  self-direction  and 
development,  and  reduce  it  to  a  position  of  permanent 
tutelage  and  inferiority.  Each  people  is  entitled  to 
be  itself.  It  is  the  Christian  way  to  help  the  growth 
of  a  wholesome  independence,  and  to  prepare  the 
native  Christianity  to  stand  alone.  ^ 

These  reasons  are  enough  to  show  that  the  real 
object  sought  in  Christian  missions  is  the  planting  of 
Christianity  for  permanency,  by  raising  up  a  Christian 
people  who  shall  ultimately  take  up  the  work  of 
Christianity  in  their  own  country  and  carry  it  forward 
to  larger  success.  But  in  this  statement  of  the  object 
there  is  contained  a  truth  of  the  utmost  importance, 
which  is  not  always  present  to  the  minds  of  those 
who  are  interested  in  missions.  It  is,  that  foreign 
missions  must  be  regarded  as  temporary  in  their 
calling.  It  must  be  definitely  expected  that  missions 
will  in  the  course  of  time  give  place  to  a  native 
church,  that  will  carry  on  the  work  of  Christianizing 
as  it  could  never  be  done  by  missionaries.  It  is  the 
duty  of  foreign  missions  to  render  themselves  need- 
less. A  time  will  come  when  the  foreigner  has  done 
his  work,  and  should  leave  the  future  to  the  native 


64  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

body,  born  of  God  and  trained  to  Christian  efficiency. 
This  element  in  the  destiny  of  missions  must  never  be 
forgotten.  The  fact  that  the  work  of  our  missions  is 
a  long  one  must  not  blind  us  to  its  temporary  charac- 
ter. For  a  very  long  time  yet,  foreign  missions  will 
certainly  be  needed,  and  at  present  no  suggestion  of 
the  end  of  the  need  of  them  is  in  sight;  but  that 
does  not  alter  the  fact  that  they  are  essentially  tem- 
porary. We  enter  foreign  lands  for  Christ,  to  stay 
as  long  as  we  are  needed  there,  but  no  longer. 
Toward  the  time  of  their  own  needlessness,  missions 
should  joyfully  and  hopefully  labor  from  the  first. 
And  it  is  plain  that  there  is  no  way  to  work  toward 
that  end,  except  by  building  up  a  native  Christian 
body  that  can  by  and  by  take  up  the  work  of  Chris- 
tianity and  release  the  foreign  force.  This  view  of 
missions  should  be  unswervingly  held  by  missionaries 
on  the  field  and  by  Christians  at  home,  and  toward 
the  day,  however  remote,  of  successful  departure  from 
the  field,  all  labor  from  first  to  last  should  be  intelli- 
gently directed. 

Concerning  this  view,  that  the  object  in  Christian 
missions  is  the  planting  of  Christianity,  it  is  now  to 
be  said  that  by  it  all  the  various  forms  of  missionary 
work  are  recognized,  harmonized,  and  co-ordinated. 


THE   OBJECT  IN  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS        65 

Here,  at  the  outset,  the  work  of  heralding  falls  at 
once  into  its  proper  place.  Instead  of  being  dis- 
honored by  being  subordinated  to  the  work  of  plant- 
ing, it  thus  receives  its  true  honor.  It  stands  at  the 
front.  Proclamation  is  the  first  stage  of  planting. 
From  this  follows  the  raising-up  of  the  native  church. 
In  this  comprehensive  work  it  is  necessary  to  trans- 
late the  Scriptures,  to  instruct  the  converts  in  the 
essentials  of  Christianity,  to  lay  foundations  for 
Christian  institutions,  to  train  a  native  ministry,  to 
educate  the  young  who  are  the  hope  of  the  future,  to 
foster  general  education  of  the  most  useful  kind, 
to  disseminate  general  intelligence,  to  introduce  by 
precept  and  example  Christian  ideals  of  life,  personal, 
domestic,  and  social,  to  make  the  beginnings  of  a 
worthy  literature,  both  religious  and  general,  that 
will  be  helpful  to  Christianity,  to  train  leaders  in 
other  departments  of  life  than  the  ministry  and  the 
school,  to  encourage  self-support  in  Christian  insti- 
tutions, to  encourage  good  citizenship,  to  inspire  the 
Christians  at  once  with  a  missionary  spirit  and  with 
a  loyal  and  patriotic  zeal  for  the  welfare  of  their  coun- 
try. With  all  this  the  work  of  evangelization  must, 
of  course,  be  continued,  but  more  and  more  through 
native  voices.  The  missionary's  chief  and  abiding 
work  is  the  developing  of   Christian  character  and 

5 


66  A  STUDY   OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

effectiveness,  working  for  the  future.  In  this  great 
undertaking,  it  is  evident  that  all  known  Christian 
activities  are  included  in  perfect  harmony. 

This  rich  group  of  missionary  activities  is  divided 
by  the  nature  of  its  elements  into  two  parts,  which 
are  recognized  as  the  two  great  practical  divisions  of 
the  missionary  work.  One  is  the  directly  religious 
work,  looking  toward  conversion  to  Christ  and  the 
developing  of  Christian  character  and  service,  and 
the  other  is  the  educational  work,  more  intellectual 
in  its  character,  looking  toward  general,  personal,  and 
social  development.  In  the  present  view  of  the 
object  in  missions,  these  two  main  forms  of  missionary 
activity  are  seen  in  their  true  relation  and  harmony. 

These  two  have  almost  been  regarded  as  rivals. 
No  missionary  supposes,  indeed,  that  either  evange- 
lization or  education  can  be  dispensed  with,  but  judg- 
ments differ  widely  as  to  their  relative  importance  and 
position.  Some  regard  the  educational  work  as  the 
best  means  of  approach  to  human  beings,  and  as  an 
almost  indispensable  preparation  for  the  religious 
effort.  They  look  to  education  to  open  the  mind,  to 
shatter  old  superstitions,  to  induce  new  mental  habits, 
and  thus  to  prepare  the  way  of  that  gospel  which 
comes  as  so  revolutionary  a  force.  Others  feel  that 
the  religious  appeal  of  divine  grace  needs  no   such 


THE   OBJECT  IN   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS        67 

intellectual  preparation,  but  may  be  trusted  to  find 
the  heart  through  its  own  fitness  and  power.  These 
regard  the  need  of  education  rather  as  a  consequence 
of  the  success  of  the  religious  work.  They  would 
seize  upon  education  as  a  means  of  training  for  the 
Christian  community  when  it  has  come  to  exist,  but 
would  rely  upon  preacliing,  in  the  broad  sense  of  the 
term,  as  the  means  of  bringing  it  into  existence. 
Some  missions  have  been  conducted  on  one  of  these 
principles,  and  some  on  the  other. 

Both  methods  have  been  useful,  and,  corresponding 
to  the  prominence  given  to  preaching  or  to  education, 
there  have  appeared  two  types  of  success.  Missions 
that  devote  themselves  mainly  to  preaching  gather 
converts  in  considerable  numbers,  and  are  able  to 
point  to  church  membership  large  in  proportion  to 
the  labor  that  has  been  expended.  Education  ac- 
companies preaching,  but  mainly  follows  it,  for  the 
sake  of  the  Christian  community  and  the  generation 
that  grows  up  under  its  care.  This,  in  general,  has 
been  the  course  of  the  American  Baptist  missions, 
in  which  emphasis  has  been  steadily  laid  on  preacliing. 
Certain  other  missions  have  made  large  use  of  the 
press,  the  school,  the  medical  college,  and  the  civil- 
izing agencies  generally,  and  have  thus  sent  out  a 
leavening  influence  through  wide  regions,  affecting 


68  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

many  communities,  —  an  influence  very  inadequately 
represented  by  the  number  of  members  in  the  mission 
churches.  The  Presbyterian  missions  have  been 
conducted  largely  in  this  manner.  The  Baptists, 
who  became  interested  in  missions  before  they  had 
taken  much  interest  in  education,  naturally  grew  into 
the  use  of  the  former  method,  and  have  been  greatly 
blessed  in  it.  The  Presbyterians,  with  long  tradi- 
tions of  general  intelligence  and  an  educated  ministry, 
naturally  adopted  the  latter,  and  have  done  great 
good  by  it.  Probably  one  method  may  be  better 
adapted  to  some  countries,  and  the  other  to  others. 
Certainly  neither  should  be  suspected  or  condemned 
by  the  friends  of  the  other,  for  both  have  been  vin- 
dicated as  good  and  useful  methods. 

It  is  plain  that  what  we  have  called  the  object  of 
missions  is  the  harmonizing  fact,  with  reference  to 
these  two  *  modes  of  working.  Both  of  these  are 
methods  of  work  for  planting  Christianity  for  per- 
manence, and  between  them,  therefore,  there  is  no 
real  rivalry.  As  to  the  relations  between  evange- 
lizing and  education  in  some  particular  field  or  at 
some  particular  stage  of  progress,  they  cannot  be 
judged  beforehand,  but  must  be  settled  in  each 
case  according  to  circumstances.  When  Christianity 
comes  into  close  relations  with  the  educated  classes 


THE  OBJECT  IN  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS       69 

in  ancient  civilizations,  the  question  will  doubtless 
take  some  new  forms  that  cannot  now  be  predicted. 
Thus  far,  missions  have  had  to  do  mostly  with  the 
uneducated.  Certainly  no  one  ought  to  be  satisfied 
to  convert  the  heathen  without  educating  them,  or  to 
educate  the  heathen  without  converting  them :  and 
yet  in  various  instances  these  insufficient  things  may 
rightly  be  done.  But  no  great  mission  has  fallen 
into  the  error  of  adopting  either  of  these  as  a  line  of 
policy.  Every  successful  Christian  mission  must 
both  evangelize  and  educate,  and  the  two  forms  of 
work  have  no  reason  to  be  regarded  as  rivals.  If 
ever  they  seem  to  be  such,  the  true  view  of  the  mat- 
ter has  not  yet  been  reached.  Each  takes  its  place 
as  a  legitimate  and  indispensable  means  to  the  one 
great  end,  the  planting  of  Christianity  as  the  per- 
manent religion  of  the  world. 

What  has  been  said  of  education  in  its  relation  to 
the  evangelistic  work  may  be  said  with  equal  force 
of  the  various  social  betterments  that  our  hearts 
desire  to  see  accomplished,  and  to  which  it  is  in- 
evitable that  some  part  of  our  missionary  endeavor 
should  be  given.  In  the  lands  to  which  missions 
go,  there  are  found  innumerable  evils  in  the  structure 
of  society  and  the  conduct  of  social  life,  evils  deep 


70  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

and  terrible  which  the  application  of  the  spirit  of 
Christ  would  cure.  The  Christian  home-lands  claim 
no  exemption  from  such  social  evils,  but  our  own 
sharinof  in  the  common  inheritance  of  sin  does  not 
make  the  horrors  of  life  where  Christ  is  not  known 
less  real,  or  compel  us  to  be  silent  about  them.  They 
confront  a  missionary  as  soon  as  he  enters  his  field, 
and  they  confront  the  Christian  world  as  it  contem- 
plates missionary  service.  There  exist  all  sorts  of 
immoral  and  destructive  practices  in  personal  life. 
Woman  is  degraded,  infanticide  prevails,  the  family 
needs  uplifting.  Cruelty  abounds.  Truthfulness 
has  not  been  there  to  build  up  a  trustworthy  order. 
Slavery  fills  large  parts  of  the  world  with  uttermost 
misery.  Superstition  attends  upon  ignorance,  and 
holds  the  multitude  in  bondage  and  fear.  In  all 
that  relates  to  bodily  health  and  welfare  the  first 
principles  have  yet  to  be  learned.  Heavy  burdens 
hang  upon  society,  depressing  the  individual,  as  in 
the  system  of  caste  in  India.  So  we  might  go  on. 
Nowhere  do  all  these  evils  exist  together,  but  mis- 
sionaries have  not  gone  in  the  name  of  Christ  to  any 
country  where  their  hearts  have  not  been  saddened 
by  the  sight  of  some  of  them,  existing  from  far  an- 
tiquity and  wrought  into  the  universal  life.  It  is 
natural  for  them  to  feel,  with  pity  and  indignation, 


THE  OBJECT  IN  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS        71 

that  such  evils  must  be  attacked  at  once,  and  the 
people  be  delivered  from  the  ancient  bondage.  How 
can  we  wait  while  our  human  brothers  are  suffering 
so? 

Yet  missionaries  do  not  usually  begin  with  organ- 
ized assaults  upon  the  social  evils  that  they  find. 
In  the  course  of  their  life  they  are  sure  to  do  more 
or  less  against  them,  for  they  cannot  possibly  do 
otherwise.  Even  if  a  missionary  felt  that  he  was 
there  solely  to  preach  the  gospel  of  salvation  for  the 
soul,  still  he  would  find  himself  working  by  direct 
intention  against  infanticide,  or  feet-binding,  or  cor- 
rupting superstitions.  A  missionary  of  Jesus  Christ 
is  by  the  nature  of  his  calling  a  reformer  of  abuses 
and  a  herald  of  a  better  common  life.  His  Christian 
character  justifies  and  requires  labor  against  the 
manifold  ills  that  confront  him.  To  seek  to  remove 
them  is  a  necessary  part  of  his  work.  Nevertheless 
it  is  not  his  primary  work,  and  missionaries  do  not 
usually  begin  with  it.     They  can  do  better. 

The  purpose  of  missions  is  the  introduction  of  a 
revolutionary  force.  Christ  is  the  healer  of  the 
nations,  as  well  as  the  Saviour  of  individual  men,  and 
missions  undertake  the  bringing-in  of  his  power,  to 
abide  and  do  its  long  work  of  blessing.  On  the 
theory  of  mere  heralding,  in  expectation  of  a  speedy 


72  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

winding-up  of  human  affairs,  of  course  there  would 
be  little  attention  given  to  social  improvement.  Feet 
might  still  be  bound,  and  slaves  lie  under  the  lash, 
through  the  few  remaining  days.  There  would  be 
no  time  for  deliverance.  But  on  the  truer  theory  of 
planting,  provision  is  made  for  brave,  long,  steady, 
patient  conflict  with  any  and  all  of  the  evils  that 
afflict  society  in  heathen  lands.  The  Christian  life, 
when  once  it  has  entered  among  the  people,  will  wage 
its  own  battle  against  them.  It  is  matter  of  experi- 
ence that  the  battle  begins  as  soon  as  there  are 
Christians :  ignorance,  superstition,  cruelty,  and  even 
uncleanliness,  are  recognized  as  enemies  when  men 
are  living  in  Christ.  As  time  passes,  there  is  abun- 
dant opportunity  to  develop  direct  and  special  assault 
upon  the  ancient  evils,  and  the  assault  is  sure  to 
come.  There  are  generations,  centuries,  ages,  ahead, 
in  which  to  work  out  the  great  strife  between  Christ 
and  evil.  By  missions  we  simply  introduce  the 
battle.  In  this  view  of  missions  the  endeavor  for 
social  betterment  takes  its  place  among  the  natural 
and  necessary  endeavors  of  Christianity,  which  should 
be  begun  at  once,  and  yet  which  wait  for  success 
upon  the  long  operation  of  the  great  revolutionary 
force,  the  life  of  God  in  the  soul  of  man. 

One  of  the  strong  missionary  movements  of  our  day 


THE  OBJECT   IN   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS        73 

has  taken  for  its  motto,  "  The  evangelization  of  the 
world  within  the  present  generation,"  and  has  set  forth 
to  act  upon  it.  Into  this  brave  proposal  and  resolve 
there  has  gone  the  strength  of  a  great  consecration 
from  thousands  of  hearts,  and  a  multitude  of  laborers 
have  been  impelled  by  it  into  actual  service.  For 
this  high  determination  to  do  for  the  world  all  that 
can  possibly  be  done  in  the  name  of  Christ  within 
the  present  generation,  all  Chi-istians  must  cherish 
gratitude  to  God,  the  inspirer  of  noble  purposes. 
Happily,  this  is  what  the  proposal  to  evangelize  the 
world  in  short  time  has  practically  meant  to  those 
who  were  influenced  by  it.  When  we  come  to  in- 
quire what  it  would  be  to  evangelize  the  world,  the 
proposal  as  a  definite  one  eludes  us.  It  might  be  as 
difficult  to  tell  when  the  world  has  been  evangelized 
as  to  know  when  the  present  generation  is  past.  If 
it  were  proposed  that  within  the  lifetime  of  men  now 
living,  every  community  in  the  world  should  be 
visited  by  messengers  of  Christ,  that  might  possibly 
be  done.  But  if  it  were  proposed  that  every  com- 
munity in  the  world  should  hear  the  gospel  sufficiently 
to  be  able  to  understand  it  for  what  it  is,  and  accept 
it  intelligently,  then  certainly  the  time  is  far  too 
short  for  the  work.  It  is  quite  impossible  that  within 
the  lifetime  of  a  generation  Christ  should  become 


74  A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

intelligently  known  by  all  men.  In  so  short  a  time 
even  the  simplest  form  of  faith  in  Christ  proclaimed 
cannot  be  made  possible  to  all.  The  good  news  of 
Christ  must  be  made  somewhat  plain  to  the  minds  of 
men,  and  be  loved  into  their  hearts,  before  it  can 
become  plain  to  all,  and  that  ia  a  work  of  time. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  it  appears  more  and  more  that 
there  is  no  such  thing  as  evangelizing  the  world, 
apart  from  the  first  stages  of  the  endeavor  to  make 
Christianity  the  permanent  religion  of  the  world. 
To  evangelize  is  to  introduce  the  transforming  power, 
which  is  to  remain  and  do  its  work.  That  can  be 
done  within  the  present  generation,  if  God's  children 
are  ready,  to  an  extent  that  cannot  be  measured 
beforehand.  It  can  be  very  broadly  done.  But  it 
is  not  a  work  that  can  be  finished  at  the  passing 
of  some  generation,  or  at  any  other  date,  for  by  its 
very  nature  it  moves  right  on  into  the  permanent 
work  of  the  long  future. 

On  this  principle  it  comes  to  pass  that  those  who 
conduct  their  work  under  the  mistaken  expectation 
of  a  speedy  end  do  not  labor  in  vain,  but  are  building 
better  than  they  know.  The  long  future  stretches 
out  before  them  though  they  do  not  see  it,  and  into  it 
the  fruits  of  their  labor  will  go,  there  to  abide  for 
everlasting  good.     As  years  pass,  those  who  thought 


THE   OBJECT  IN  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS       75 

they  were  only  heralding  the  gospel  will  find  them- 
selves gladly  planting  Christianity  before  they  are 
aware,  and  doubtless  many  of  them  will  live  to  see 
long  blessing  on  what  they  thought  was  destined  to 
be  short  toil. 


IV 

THE   FIELD   OF   MISSIONS 

The  field  of  Christian  missions  is  the  world  of  man- 
kind. Christ  came  to  all  that  is  human,  and  so  Chris- 
tianity is  universal  in  its  scope;  and  the  need  is 
universal.  Hence,  wherever  there  is  any  part  of 
mankind  that  has  not  yet  been  blessed  in  Christ,  there 
is  a  proper  field  for  missionary  work. 

To  describe  the  field  in  any  comprehensive  manner 
is,  of  course,  impossible.  All  that  will  be  attempted 
at  present,  is  to  indicate  some  of  the  types  of  mission- 
ary field  that  we  discover.  The  various  parts  of 
humanity  present  fields  that  differ  widely  among 
themselves,  but  these  may  be  grouped  with  general 
correctness  into  a  few  great  classes. 

Although  the  present  study  is  concerned  mainly 
with  foreign  missions,  a  few  words  may  be  given  to 
the  field  of  home  missions,  in  America.  Home  mis- 
sionary work  is  necessary,  and  it  is  the  duty  of 
American  Christians  to  carry  it  on,  for  at  least  three 
strong  reasons.     Here  are  human  beings  to  be  blessed 


THE  FIELD  OF  MISSIONS  77 

with  the  gifts  of  the  gospel  of  Christ;  the  moral  and 
religious  uplifting  of  these  human  beings  is  essential 
to  the  purity  and  stability  of  the  nation ;  and  the  mis- 
sion of  our  country  to  the  world  cannot  be  fulfilled 
without  the  presence  here  of  a  strong  and  well-trained 
Christian  people.  These  reasons  are  all  truly  Chris- 
tian in  their  character,  and  have  a  perpetual  power 
of  legitimate  appeal  to  the  Christian  people  of 
America. 

The  main  forms  of  American  home-missionary 
work  are  these :  — 

a.  Pioneering,  or  carrying  the  Christian  message 
and  founding  Christian  institutions  as  life  advances 
into  new  regions.  From  the  beginning  of  our 
national  history  till  now,  new  communities  have 
constantly  been  springing  up,  and  the  process  is  not 
yet  at  an  end,  though  it  will  never  again  be  as  rapid 
as  heretofore.  In  these  new  communities  home 
missions,  sent  out  from  the  older  regions,  have 
preached  the  gospel,  established  churches,  provided 
pastoral  care,  and  helped  the  churches  to  live  till  they 
were  able  to  conduct  their  own  work.  Independence 
does  not  come  at  once,  and  the  helpful  service  often 
needs  to  be  continued  after  the  period  of  pioneering 
is  past.  The  fruits  of  such  labor  are  beyond  measur- 
ing.    There  is  no  State,  and  no  large  city,  west  of 


78  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

the  Atlantic  coast,  in  which  the  Christian  beginnings 
have  not  been  fostered  by  home -missionary  effort. 

I,  Helping  the  weak  in  old  positions.  It  often 
happens  that  in  old  communities  the  Christian  inter- 
est has  become  feeble  through  emigration  and  other 
causes,  so  that  help  from  without  is  needed  for  the 
maintenance  of  religious  institutions.  In  regions 
where  the  rural  population  is  declining,  such  assist- 
ance is  often  required.  Help  is  thus  rendered  not 
merely  to  the  weak  local  interest,  but  also  to  the 
general  life  of  the  country;  since  out  from  the  de- 
clining rural  communities  there  is  constantly  flowing 
a  stream  of  young  life,  to  fill  the  cities  and  larger 
towns;  and  this  young  life  can  best  be  influenced  on 
the  religious  side  in  its  early  home.  This  kind  of 
labor  often  seems  discouraging,  and  yet,  on  the 
whole,  it  has  yielded  much  good  fruit. 

c.  City  evangelization.  Cities  are  steadily  becom- 
ing a  greater  element  in  our  national  life,  and  the 
problems  of  society,  morality,  and  religion  in  our  cities 
are  becoming  more  complex  and  difficult,  and  at  the 
same  time  more  urgent  in  their  importance.  The 
larger  part  of  the  organized  Christian  work  that  is 
done  in  our  great  cities  needs  now  to  bear  more  or 
less  the  character  of  missionary  work.  Such  work 
takes  many  forms  that  in  the  country  are  practically 


THE  FIELD  OF  MISSIONS  79 

unknown.  This  element  in  Christian  service  is 
destined  to  increase  still  more,  both  relatively  and 
absolutely,  in  the  future,  if  our  cities  are  to  be  Chris- 
tianized at  all.  Along  with  the  work  of  direct  evan- 
gelization, there  must  necessarily  go  great  endeavors 
that  may  easily  be  called  merely  humanitarian ;  and 
Christian  people  must  learn  to  look  upon  such  works 
not  only  without  disapproval  or  disparagement,  but 
as  indispensable  means  of  fulfilling  the  will  of  Christ. 

d.  The  evangelizing  of  foreign  populations.  In 
cities  and  in  the  country  we  have  great  masses  of 
people  who  have  come  from  other  lands.  Many  of 
these  speak  their  own  languages  and  retain  their  own 
customs,  so  that  foreign  life  exists  among  us.  To 
lead  these  peoples  to  a  vital  Christianity,  and  thus  at 
once  to  enrich  their  life  and  help  to  make  them  a 
useful  part  of  the  nation,  is  one  of  the  great  tasks  of 
the  missionary  spirit  in  America.  Questions  of 
method  in  this  field  are  often  especially  difficult,  and 
there  is  no  work  that  requires  greater  wisdom  and 
patience. 

e.  The  uplifting  of  the  American  Indians,  and  of 
the  African  race  in  America.  The  original  inhabi- 
tants of  our  country,  whom  we  have  often  treated 
most  unjustly,  have  a  strong  claim  upon  us  for  all 
the  good  that  we  can  do  them  now.     The  African 


80  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

race,  long  enslaved  among  us,  has  been  made  a  part 
of  the  nation,  but  is  suffering  in  every  way  from  the 
long  experience  of  slavery,  and  from  dangers  unfore- 
seen in  the  new  conditions  of  political  enfranchise- 
ment. We  owe  to  it  all  that  we  can  give.  Justice, 
love,  and  self-protection  all  demand  the  general  im- 
provement and  uplifting  of  the  Negroes.  Educa- 
tional, moral  and  religious  help  of  every  kind  must 
be  given  by  American  Christians  to  this  needy  part 
of  our  own  people,  with  the  intent  that  they  may 
become  able  to  help  themselves  and  to  bless  the 
nation  of  which  they  form  a  part. 

The  home-missionary  work  thus  slightly  sketched 
is  a  work  of  great  magnitude  and  of  pressing  import- 
ance, and  there  are  never  lacking  those  who  maintain 
that  it  is  work  enough  for  American  Christians. 
With  all  this  upon  our  hands,  they  say,  why  should 
we  be  called  to  do  anything  for  the  distant  nations  of 
mankind?  Until  the  home  work  is  accomplished, 
we  have  no  duty  beyond. 

It  is  not  noticed  that  such  objectors  are  sure  to  be 
the  persons  who  are  doing  the  most  for  the  work  at 
home.  On  the  contrary,  it  is  generally  the  fact  that 
those  who  care  enough  about  either  work  to  do  some- 
thing for  it,  are  interested  in  both.    There  are  excep- 


THE  FIELD  OF  MISSIONS  81 

tions,  but  this  is  the  rule.  So  it  ought  to  be:  for 
while  it  is  true  that  our  country  has  great  needs,  it 
is  also  true  that  our  country  contains  an  unparalleled 
amount  of  missionary  force.  There  is  no  land  on 
earth  that  contains  so  large  an  amount  of  free,  mov- 
able, available  Christian  force  as  the  United  States 
of  America.  If  this  land,  thus  supplied,  is  so  needy, 
what  shall  we  say  of  those  far  greater  lands  in  which, 
almost  until  yesterday,  there  existed  absolutely  no 
Christian  life  or  power  at  all,  and  where  Christianity 
to-day  has  done  almost  nothing  ?  and  what  shall  we 
say  of  the  lands  in  which  no  Christian  beginning  has 
been  made  ?  And  if  it  is  still  said  that  the  whole  of 
this  Christian  force  should  be  turned  to  the  work  that 
lies  at  hand,  and  our  eyes  should  not  be  lifted  up  to 
look  upon  the  needs  that  are  beyond,  the  answer  is 
that  Christianity,  the  religion  of  God's  generosity,  is 
the  religion  of  world-wide  generosity  among  men. 
It  knows  no  limits  while  the  need  of  it  exists.  Gen- 
erosity is  essential  to  it.  It  is  a  religion  that  cannot 
be  really  strengthened  at  home  by  declining  to  ex- 
tend its  blessings  abroad.  Indifference  to  the  great 
world  with  its  overwhelming  needs  cannot  strengthen 
the  local  Christian  interest.  It  is  only  by  self- 
forgetful  love  and  service,  bearing  others'  burdens, 
that  this  religion  grows  strong.      It  is  a  complete 

6 


82  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

misunderstanding  of  Christianity  to  suppose  that 
Borne  Christian  church  or  country,  by  concentrating 
its  attention  and  labors  upon  itself,  can  so  accumulate 
power  as  to  be  able  to  turn  in  full  vigor  to  do  its 
Christian  work  for  others  at  some  later  date.  It  was 
said  long  ago  that  Christianity  is  a  commodity  of 
which  the  more  we  export  the  more  we  have  at  home. 
It  is  equally  true  that  the  less  we  export,  the  less  we 
may  find  at  home.  The  true  vitality  of  our  religion 
will  be  found  in  world-wide  work.  Hence  the  need 
at  home,  urgent  as  it  is,  must  not  be  allowed  to  coun- 
termand the  law  of  Christ,  that  we  make  disciples  of 
all  the  nations. 

Returning  now  to  foreign  missions,  we  may  con- 
sider the  fields  in  which  they  must  be  conducted.  In 
seeking  to  make  disciples  of  all  the  nations,  we 
encounter  men  of  all  grades  of  civilization,  and  all 
kinds  of  religion.  Christianity  has  not  yet  entered 
all  parts  of  the  world,  but  it  has  gone  far  toward 
meeting  all  the  general  varieties  of  human  kind  and 
human  institutions.  Three  types  or  varieties  of  men 
may  be  mentioned,  as  constituting  three  types  or 
classes  of  fields  for  missions. 

a.  Peoples  of  ancient  civilization  and  developed 
religion.     To  such  peoples  the  thought  of  Christen- 


THE  FIELD  OF  MISSIONS  83 

dom  naturally  turns  with  greatest  interest,  since  they 
are  the  great  and  prominent  peoples  of  the  non- 
Christian  world.  With  them  the  Christian  nations 
have  most  to  do,  and  the  way  of  approach  to  them  is 
opened  most  directly  by  commerce  and  acquaintance. 
Moreover,  it  seems  plain  that  labor  expended  upon 
the  great  peoples  has  largest  promise  of  usefulness  in 
the  future  of  the  world.  Such  fields  offer  the  stra- 
tegic points.  A  people  that  has  a  long  past  has  pros- 
pect of  a  significant  future.  Such  fields  offer  larger 
returns  than  others. 

The  first  land  to  become  prominent  under  the 
attention  of  the  modern  missionary  spirit  was  India ; 
for  India  was  closely  related  to  Britain,  in  which  the 
modern  movement  became  strong.  India  has  great 
variety  of  races  and  peoples,  but  in  the  dominant 
races  of  that  country  there  is  a  civilization  thousands 
of  years  old,  accompanied  by  religious  institutions 
equally  venerable  in  age.  The  ancient  religion  of 
India,  represented  now  by  Hinduism,  had  already 
grown  old  before  Buddhism,  five  centuries  older  than 
Christianity,  sprang  out  of  it.  Thus,  in  India,  Chris- 
tianity comes  into  contact  with  ancient,  firm,  and 
abiding  institutions,  both  in  civilization  and  in  relig- 
ion, and  encounters  all  the  conservatism  that  belongs 
to  such  institutions.     In  China,  the  existing  civiliza- 


84  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSION'S 

tion  is  probably  even  older  than  in  India.  There 
Confucius,  at  about  the  time  of  the  rise  of  Buddhism, 
gave  new  form  to  a  religion  that  was  already  ancient, 
a  form  that  it  still  retains.  There  the  conservative 
instinct  is  as  strong  as  anywhere  among  men,  and 
society  is  thoroughly  organized  for  permanence.  The 
strength  of  settled  institutions  and  the  impulse  of 
conservatism  in  such  a  land  is  something  of  which 
men  in  such  a  country  as  ours  can  have  but  slight 
conception.  The  startling  events  of  the  year  1900 
in  China  suggest  great  and  unpredictable  changes  in 
the  future,  but  probably  they  cannot  be  understood  to 
indicate  that  the  vast  solid  mass  is  ready  for  swift 
transformation.  When  we  come  to  Japan,  we  meet 
a  civilization  far  less  ancient  than  that  of  China,  and 
yet  containing  some  of  the  same  elements  of  conser- 
vatism, though  strangely  modified  by  mixture  of  the 
modern  spirit.  Here  the  youngest  of  the  nations  of 
the  ancient  type  has  been  touched  by  the  modern 
ambition  and  awakened  to  a  modern  interest  in  life, 
so  that  Christianity  finds  it  a  field  of  unique  charac- 
ter, ofitering  peculiar  advantages  and  presenting  pecu- 
liar difficulties. 

These  three  lands,  the  great  lands  of  the  Orient, 
are  possessors  of  ancient  civilization  and  developed 
religion,   and   in   them   missionary  work  encounters 


THE  FIELD  OF  MISSIONS  85 

the  solid  conservatism  of  ages,  save  as  in  Japan  the 
new  world  has  brought  in  the  breath  of  its  stirring 
life. 

h.  Low  peoples,  with  religions  of  low  grade. 
Within  the  countries  already  mentioned  these  are 
found.  In  India  there  are  multitudes  of  hill-tribes, 
which  are  remnants  of  ancient  populations,  driven 
ages  ago  to  the  high  regions  of  the  interior  by  the 
conquering  invaders  who  took  possession  of  the 
plains  and  valleys.  These  primitive  peoples  all  pos- 
sess their  ancient  institutions  and  religion,  but  their 
life  is  what  we  call  uncivilized,  and  their  religions 
are  crude  and  coarse.  When  we  look  beyond  the 
lands  where  civilization  has  driven  savagery  to  the 
mountains,  we  see  great  countries  of  which  savagery 
still  possesses  the  whole.  The  sympathetic  attention 
of  Christian  people  was  long  ago  directed  to  the  sav- 
ages of  the  islands  of  the  southern  Pacific  Ocean,  of 
whom,  a  century  ago  and  less,  the  Hawaiians  were  a 
sample.  Throughout  Australasia  there  are  commu- 
nities of  men  in  a  similar  state,  with  institutions  of 
low  order  and  religions  of  low  grade.  Among  these 
peoples  self-sacrificing  work  of  a  high  order  has  been 
performed,  and  has  yielded  good  results.  In  the  great 
continent  of  Africa  there  are  scores  of  millions  in  the 
same  general  condition,  some  higher  and  some  lower 


86  A  STUDY   OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

in  human  grade,  just  beginning  to  be  known  to  the 
civilized  world.  Doubtless  for  centuries  yet  there 
will  be  a  call  for  Christianity  to  offer  its  help  in  the 
renewing  and  elevation  of  men  who  are  near  the 
lowest  grade  of  human  life. 

Now  and  then,  with  some  degree  of  regularity, 
there  arises  some  one  to  maintain  that  such  labor  is 
vainly  spent,  if  not  wickedly  wasted.  Why,  they 
ask,  should  any  labor  at  all  be  spent  on  a  waning 
race  like  the  Hawaiians,  when  the  whole  might  be 
concentrated  on  a  permanent  race  that  has  a  future, 
like  the  Chinese?  Why  touch  non-strategic  points 
at  all?  Does  not  wisdom  direct  us  to  place  our  labor 
where  it  will  bring  forth  fruit  for  the  long  future? 
It  is  very  true  that  the  fields  of  strategic  promise 
should  be  most  considered.  So  says  wisdom.  But 
it  is  equally  true  that  the  Christian  wisdom  knows  the 
divine  preciousness  of  the  Christian  compassion,  and 
has  no  harsh  words  to  utter  when  the  Christlike 
heart  responds  to  the  appeal  of  the  poorest  and  lowest 
of  all  men.  Alexander  Duff  made  good  investment 
of  his  life  in  India,  but  his  countryman  Paton  in- 
vested his  life  well  also  in  the  New  Hebrides. 

c.  Peoples  possessed  of  degenerate  faiths,  or  of 
faiths  that  have  been  arrested  in  their  development. 
Large  parts  of  the  earth  are  occupied  by  religions  that 


THE   FIELD  OF  MISSIONS  87 

have  not  risen  to  their  full  destiny,  or  have  declined 
from  their  best  estate.  Islam,  the  religion  of 
Mohammed,  may  fairly  be  counted  as  a  religion  in 
which  the  legitimate  spiritual  development  has  been 
arrested.  When  it  arose,  in  the  sixth  Christian  cen- 
tury, it  was  an  advance  upon  the  ancient  religion  of 
Arabia,  which  it  absorbed  and  superseded.  It  has 
often  been  called  a  degenerate  Judaism,  and  a  degen- 
erate Christianity.  These  names  imply  too  much  by 
way  of  influence  from  Judaism  and  Christianity  in  its 
origin ;  but  it  may  properly  be  called  a  degenerate, 
or  else  an  arrested  and  undeveloped,  monotheism. 
It  holds  immovably  to  belief  in  one  God,  but  though 
it  nominally  admits  Jesus  among  its  prophets,  the 
revelation  of  God  in  Christ  it  has  never  apprehended. 
It  has  thus  declined  a  holy  and  tender  monotheism, 
full  of  help  to  the  soul,  in  favor  of  a  monotheism  that 
is  hard  and  fatalistic,  unable  to  raise  humanity  to  its 
proper  and  worthy  height. 

Judaism  is  another  faith  that  is  suffering  from 
arrest  in  its  development.  It  is  a  religion  that  has 
resisted  its  destiny.  It  has  persisted  in  being  what 
it  was,  instead  of  allowing  itself  to  be  absorbed  in  its 
own  fulfilment.  It  has  thus  stopped  in  the  path  of 
progress,  and  stood  still  for  ages.  Most  naturally, 
even  apart  from  the  memory  and  the  present  experi- 


88  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

ence  of  wrongs  endured  at  the  hands  of  Christians,  it 
is  strongly  opposed  to  that  Christianity  in  which  it 
ought  to  have  lost  its  life  to  find  it  again.  In  some 
modern  expressions  of  Judaism  the  sweetness  and 
power  of  genuine  religion  appear;  yet  Judaism,  as  a 
whole,  has  been  arrested  in  its  life. 

There  are  various  Christian  churches  in  which 
the  more  spiritual  quality  of  Christianity  has,  in  great 
measure,  been  lost  for  the  people,  and  out  of  which 
we  cannot  but  feel  it  to  be  a  brotherly  service  to  call 
men  to  a  better  faith  and  life.  In  the  lands  of  the 
Greek  church  there  is  found  among  the  common 
people  a  deeply  ignorant  faith,  attended  by  devout- 
ness  indeed,  but  profoundly  lacking  in  Christian  in- 
telligence, and  not  productive  of  the  spiritual  liberty 
that  belongs  to  the  children  of  God.  The  same  is 
true  of  large  parts  of  the  people  in  Roman  Catholic 
countries.  In  Mexico,  and  in  many  parts  of  South 
America,  there  has  been  a  peculiar  blending  of  the 
religion  of  the  Roman  Catholic  invaders,  not  too  de- 
vout or  intelligent,  with  the  religious  ideas  and  prac- 
tices of  the  original  native  races ;  and  the  result  is  a 
most  lifeless  and  degenerate  nominal  Christianity. 
Such  inferior  forms  of  Christianity  are  always  marked 
by  much  externalism  and  formalism.  It  is  true  that 
a  fervent  faith  is   often   found  within   them,   and, 


THE  FIELD  OF  MISSIONS  89 

thank  God,  we  know  that  souls  may  there  exercise 
the  faith  that  is  acceptable,  and  be  made  alive  in 
Christ.  Yet  it  is  by  a  true  fraternal  impulse  of 
Christlike  love  that  Christians  of  high  experience 
are  often  led  to  call  men  out  of  them  to  a  more 
direct  and  simple  confidence  in  the  Saviour  God. 

This  very  rapid  view  of  the  world  shows  us  mission- 
fields  where  both  civilization  and  religion  are  ancient, 
established,  and  conservative,  fields  in  which  human 
life  is  rudimentary  and  crude,  and  fields  in  which 
some  religion  has  either  declined  from  its  best  estate 
or  been  somehow  prevented  from  attaining  to  it. 

How  do  these  classes  of  fields  rank  among  them- 
selves, with  respect  to  fruitfulness  under  missionary 
labor?  The  answer  to  this  question  appears  to  be 
that  thus  far  the  most  fruitful  fields  have  been  among 
the  lower  classes  of  humanity,  the  next  have  been 
where  the  old  religions  and  civilizations  exist,  and 
the  least  fruitful  have  been  the  fields  where  religions 
of  arrested  development  hold  sway. 

Certainly  the  largest  successes  have  thus  far  been 
obtained  either  in  fields  of  the  second  group,  where 
all  the  conditions  of  life  and  religion  are  of  the  lower 
order,  or  among  the  lower  classes  of  men  who  are 
living  under  the  sway  of  the  great  and  ancient  relig- 


90  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

ions.  One  reason  for  this  undoubtedly  is  that  the 
most  simple-minded  are  in  general  the  most  open- 
minded.  Those  who  have  the  least  to  throw  away 
before  they  can  receive  a  simple  and  spiritual  faith, 
are  the  ones  to  whom  Christ  appeals  most  success- 
fully. The  old  established  religions  resist  the  appeal 
of  a  new  faith  by  the  pride  of  antiquity  and  the 
gathered  certainty  and  conservatism  of  ages.  In- 
grained mental  habit,  especially  when  it  has  to  do  with 
sacred  things,  is  a  tremendous  power  for  the  main- 
taining of  that  which  exists.  This  power  is  present 
in  savages  with  their  low  forms  of  religion,  but  it  is 
far  more  firmly  entrenched  in  those  venerable  systems 
of  thought  and  life  which  have  been  consecrated  by 
ages  of  custom  and  have  enlisted  the  service  of 
national  and  spiritual  pride. 

Thus  in  India,  the  educated  and  ruling  classes 
have  been  led  to  the  Christian  faith  only  in  individual 
instances,  never  in  large  groups;  but  the  poor  and 
ignorant,  as,  for  example,  in  many  of  the  hill-tribes, 
have  yielded  much  larger  fruit  from  missionary  labor. 
In  Burma,  the  Burmese,  who  were  Buddhists,  have 
responded  but  very  slowly  to  the  gospel ;  while  the 
Karens,  who  were  a  bright  people  comparatively  with- 
out religion,  responded  quickly  and  joyfully.  In 
China,  the   intelligent  classes  have  as  yet  come  to 


THE  FIELD  OF  MISSIONS  91 

know  little  or  nothing  of  Christianity  in  its  religious 
meaning;  but  among  the  common  people,  with  their 
hard  life  and  heavy  burdens,  the  transforming  and 
uplifting  power  of  Christ  has  slowly  but  surely 
entered  into  its  welcome.  In  Japan,  where  the  spirit 
of  change  was  already  abroad  when  the  missionaries 
entered,  the  intelligent  classes  have  been  more  open- 
minded  toward  Christianity,  although  the  later  indi- 
cations go  to  show  that  their  responsiveness  was  more 
superficial  than  it  seemed.  In  all  countries,  how- 
ever, there  has  been  more  or  less  of  evidence  that 
Christianity  was  able  to  lay  a  convincing  hold  upon 
intelligent  minds,  and  that  it  was  not  in  vain  to  hope 
for  good  success  among  the  more  thoughtful. 

It  has  sometimes  been  alleged  that  the  converts 
from  low  classes  constituted  poor  fruit  for  Chris- 
tianity, in  proportion  to  their  lowness.  But  the 
charge  is  on  the  whole  untrue.  No  fruit  of  Chris- 
tianity anywhere  is  perfect,  and  it  is  unavoidable  that 
much  desirable  quality  should  be  lacking  in  converts 
from  a  primitive  and  undeveloped  world.  We  might 
easily  expect  too  much  from  men  whose  life  has  been 
poor  in  higher  thoughts  and  bare  of  the  graces.  But 
in  respect  of  vitality  and  power,  simplicity  and  conse- 
cration, and  the  exhibition  of  the  spirit  of  Jesus  in 
common  life,  the  body  of  converts  from  the  ranks  of 


92  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

lower  humanity  has  given  abundant  proof  of  the  divine 
reality  of  the  work.  In  Asia,  Africa,  and  the  islands, 
it  has  been  triumphantly  shown  that  the  message  of 
divine  grace  in  Christ  can  win  its  victories  without 
depending  upon  advance  movements  of  civilization  to 
prepare  the  way.  It  does  not  reject  or  despise  such 
preparations  as  civilization  may  make,  but  neither 
does  it  hold  them  indispensable. 

No  large  movement  has  occurred  from  any  of  the 
formalized  Christian  churches,  under  the  influence  of 
Protestant  missions.  Probably  the  Roman  Catholic 
church,  taking  the  world  together,  does  not  yield 
more  converts  to  Protestantism  than  it  draws  from 
it.  The  Greek  church  is  thus  far  practically  un- 
affected. Great  numbers  of  individuals  have  indeed 
come  out,  especially  from  Romanism,  and  found  in 
the  direct  access  to  God  to  which  a  simpler  faith  in- 
troduced them  a  gift  unspeakably  precious.  The 
Greek  and  Roman  churches  appeal  to  elements  that 
are  deeply  seated  in  human  nature,  and  probably  for 
a  long  time  to  come  they  will  be  powerful  in  the 
world.  But  the  general  progress  of  the  human  mind 
leads  to  a  justifiable  dissatisfaction  with  them,  and  if 
intelligence  moves  on  to  its  proper  greatness,  and  re- 
ligion to  its  proper  simplicity,  the  day  will  come 
when  their  sway  is  no  longer  tolerable. 


THE   FIELD  OF   MISSIONS  93 

From  Judaism,  Christianity  has  drawn  many  indi- 
vidual converts,  but  the  mass  is  unmoved.  From 
Mohammedanism  very  few  converts  have  been  made. 
Islam,  in  fact,  presents  to  Christianity  the  most  un- 
moved and  solid  front  that  it  encounters  anywhere. 
This  is  due  in  part  to  the  intensity  of  the  Mohamme- 
dan temper,  fostered  by  the  character  of  the  religion. 
It  is  partly  due  also  to  the  deep  antagonism  that  re- 
sulted from  the  relations  between  the  two  religions  in 
the  Middle  Ages,  when  the  Christian  world  hurled 
itself  against  the  Mohammedan  world  in  the  wars  of 
the  Crusades,  with  no  just  cause  whatever  so  far  as 
the  East  could  see.  It  is  a  fact  also  that  Islam  be- 
lieves itself  to  hold  all  in  Christianity  that  is  worth 
holding.  Still  further,  on  the  border-land  between 
the  east  and  the  west  Islam  has  to  do  with  samples  of 
Christianity  that  are  far  from  exhibiting  the  true 
Christian  character  and  significance.  And  yet  again, 
in  meeting  Jews  and  Moslems,  Christianity  enters 
the  field  of  that  mysterious  and  deadly  power,  race- 
antagonism,  the  force  of  which  still  remains  tre- 
mendous. 

The  power  of  Christianity  to  win  masses  of  men 
away  from  Mohammedanism  is  yet  to  be  proved ;  but 
failure  to  win  Moslems  thus  far  does  not  show  that 
success  will  always  be  impossible.     From  the  nature 


94  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

of  the  relations  between  the  two  faiths,  it  seems  likely 
that  this  will  be  one  of  the  later  tests  of  power, 
brought  on  only  after  considerable  time  has  passed. 
Moreover,  it  will  be  perhaps  the  most  decisive  of  all 
tests  of  power,  in  which  the  Christian  world  is  cer- 
tain to  fail  unless  it  has  learned  well  the  lesson  of 
Christ.  The  radical  difference  between  Mohamme- 
danism and  Christianity  relates  to  the  character  of 
God  and  the  relation  in  which  he  stands  to  men. 
Islam  preaches  a  God  whose  will  is  fate,  and  who 
does  not  come  into  intimate  spiritual  relations  with 
mankind.  Christianity  proclaims  a  God  whose  will  is 
holy  love,  who  does  come  into  intimate  spiritual  rela- 
tions with  men,  to  transform  them  into  the  likeness 
of  his  own  character.  Christianity  can  conquer 
Islam  only  when  its  adherents  show  forth  the  charac- 
ter which  their  religion  promises.  It  is  doubtful 
whether  the  Christian  world  is  yet  good  enough  to 
preach  successfully  to  Moslems  that  better  God  whom 
Christ  reveals.  Christians  will  have  to  learn  their 
own  God  better,  and  weave  the  lesson  of  his  charac- 
ter into  their  own  lives  both  private  and  public,  be- 
fore they  will  be  ready  to  do  successful  missionary 
work  in  the  Mohammedan  world.  It  is  true  that  the 
same  necessity  exists  everywhere ;  but  in  other  fields 
Christianity  has  in  its  monotheism  an  advantage  that 


THE    FIELD  OF  MISSIONS  95 

it  does  not  possess  in  its  contest  with  Islam.  That 
contest  must  finally  be  waged  on  the  ground  of  char- 
acter alone. 

It  is  commonly  said  that  the  world  is  open  to  Chris- 
tian missions,  and  in  general  it  is  true.  In  our  time 
the  various  parts  of  the  globe  are  in  close  communi- 
cation with  one  another,  governments  stand  in  mutual 
relations,  and  commerce  is  all-embracing.  The  un- 
visited  regions  are  but  few.  Men  go  everywhere  for 
discovery  or  gain,  and  men  can  go  everywhere  to  do 
good.  Not  without  self-denial  indeed,  and  not  with- 
out danger,  can  the  work  be  done,  and  yet  in  general 
the  field  is  open.  That  the  field  will  remain  open, 
however,  is  not  so  certain.  We  are  passing  from 
the  nineteenth  century  to  the  twentieth  amid  threat- 
ening signs  in  this  respect.  Already  have  our  mis- 
sionaries been  driven  out  of  China,  while  some,  unable 
to  escape,  have  laid  down  their  lives  there.  Race- 
antagonisms  are  asserting  themselves  afresh,  and  at 
the  same  time  it  is  possible  that  parts  of  the  mission- 
field,  open  to  missions  when  under  heathen  govern- 
ment, may  fall  under  the  sway  of  European  powers 
that  will  have  no  welcome  for  missionaries  of  the 
Protestant  class,  to  say  the  least.  Great  parts  of  the 
field,   however,  will  undoubtedly  remain   open,  and 


96  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSION'S 

it  may  be  that  the  discouraging  signs  will  fail.  At 
present  there  is  great  opportunity  for  missionary 
work,  and  therefore  great  responsibility  with  respect 
to  it.  Whether  by  opportunity  or  by  reverses,  the 
faith  of  the  church  regarding  the  extension  of  the 
Christian  truth  and  life  is  destined  to  be  tested  to 
the  utmost  in  the  immediate  future.  The  Christian 
people  should  be  awake  to  what  is  thus  upon  them, 
and  prepare  to  meet  the  test. 


V 

CHRISTIANITY   AND   OTHER   RELIGIONS 

Missionary  Christianity  encounters  the  religions  of 
the  world.  These  are  of  many  kinds,  from  low  fetish- 
isms  to  highly-organized  systems,  some  of  them  ages 
older  than  Christianity.  The  question  inevitably 
arises,  How  is  Christianity  related  to  the  other  relig- 
ions ?  and  what  attitude  toward  them  should  its  mis- 
sionary representatives  take  ?  The  question  is  of  the 
first  importance,  both  theoretically  and  practically. 
Missionaries,  need  clear  views  of  it,  as  well  as  right 
feeling  upon  it,  and  so  do  the  Christian  people  at 
home ;  for  very  much,  both  in  theory  and  in  practice, 
will  depend  upon  the  answer  to  it  that  is  accepted. 

On  this  subject  we  must  inquire  what  the  non- 
Christian  religions  properly  are  and  how  we  ought  to 
think  of  them;  what  Christianity  proposes  with  re- 
gard to  them ;  and  what  position  ought  practically  to 
be  taken  toward  them  in  actual  missionary  work. 

In  the'first  place,  then.  How  should  we  think  of  the 
non-Christian  religions?     What  are  they?    The  first 

7 


98  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

answer  to  this  question  is,  that  the  religions  of  the 
world  are  expressions  of  the  religious  nature  of  man. 

Of  this  there  is  no  need  of  offering  proof.  Relig- 
ion, or  the  life  of  worship,  trust  and  obedience  toward 
the  unseen  powers,  is  natural  to  man,  and  therefore 
it  is  that  man  has  his  religions.  All  of  them,  the 
higher  and  the  lower  alike,  have  come  into  existence 
because  man  must  have  such  an  element  in  his  life. 
They  correspond  to  the  responsible  and  worshipping 
heart  of  humanity,  as  it  was  at  the  time  and  place  of 
their  arising.  Notwithstanding  all  their  faults,  they 
do  give  expression  to  the  religious  feeling  in  man, 
and  turn  his  spirit  outward  from  himself  toward  the 
heavens.  Though  we  see  how  terribly  they  fall  short 
of  fulfilling  the  human  need,  we  should  not  think  of 
them  with  contempt,  or  suppose  that  they  have  been 
of  no  use.  Even  a  very  imperfect  expression  of  the 
religious  nature  of  man  is  better  than  none.  In  his 
various  religions,  in  spite  of  their  sad  defects,  man 
has  found  a  partial  expression  for  this  essential  ele- 
ment in  himself. 

In  the  address  of  Paul  at  Athens  there  are  some 
extremely  suggestive  hints  that  may  help  us  in 
estimating  the  value  of  the  religions  of  the  world. 
"What  therefore  ye  worship  in  ignorance,"  he  said  to 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS      99 

his  hearers,  "this  set  I  forth  unto  you."  "You  are 
worshipping  an  unknown  God ;  I  will  show  you  the 
God  you  are  reaching  after  though  you  do  not  know 
him."  The  outreaching  of  their  worshipping  hearts 
Paul  regarded  as  an  outreaching  after  God,  even 
though  it  did  not  intelligently  find  him  so  as  to  know 
him  as  he  is.  If  this  hint  of  Paul  is  followed,  it 
appears  possible  for  the  living  God  to  regard  himself 
as  really  though  ignorantly  addressed,  in  the  praying 
of  men  who  do  not  know  him  as  he  is,  and  to  do 
them  good  in  proportion  to  their  possibilities,  in 
answer  to  their  prayer.  This  must  be  true.  In  what 
other  light,  indeed,  can  we  conceive  the  good  God  as 
regarding  the  eager  and  passionate  praying  that  has 
risen  in  all  ages  from  his  own  creatures,  who  did  not 
yet  know  the  Being  who  was  above  them  ?  And  in 
the  same  address  Paul  affirms  that  God  "  made  of  one 
every  nation  of  men  to  dwell  on  all  the  face  of  the 
earth,  having  determined  their  appointed  seasons  and 
the  bounds  of  their  habitation ;  that  they  should  seek 
God,  if  haply  they  might  feel  after  him  and  find 
him."  According  to  this,  the  providential  order  for 
the  life  of  men  has  been  arranged  by  God  with  refer- 
ence to  their  seeking  him  and  finding  him.  He 
planned  to  be  sought  and  found  by  men,  even  if  they 
were   men  who  could  only  grope   after  him  in   the 


100  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

darkness.  Paul  adds  that  God  is  not  far  from  any 
one,  since  "  in  him  we  live,  and  move,  and  have  our 
being,"  and  since  "we  are  his  offspring."  He  de- 
sires men  to  seek  him,  even  when  their  seeking  can 
be  nothing  better  than  groping  in  the  dark ;  and  even 
by  such  seeking  he  must  consider  it  possible  for  him 
in  some  measure  to  be  found.  Thus  the  knowledge 
of  Christ  had  evidently  borne  it  in  upon  the  heart  of 
Paul  that  God  intends  to  be  found,  in  some  sense,  by 
men  who  have  no  clear  knowledge  of  him,  and  has 
designed  the  conditions  of  their  life  with  reference 
to  their  finding  him. 

Following  the  spirit  of  this  teaching,  we  are  safe  in 
concluding  that  the  various  religions  that  express  the 
religious  nature  of  man  have  their  place  in  the  provi- 
dence of  God.  They  came  naturally  to  exist,  the 
outgrowth  of  conditions,  in  the  world  that  he  had 
made  and  over  which  he  was  exerting  providential 
care.  This  conclusion  agrees  in  spirit  with  Paul's 
other  teaching  in  the  first  chapter  of  the  Epistle  to 
the  Romans,  to  the  effect  that  men  who  have  no 
special  revelation  have  in  nature  such  light  that  they 
may  know  the  true  God  if  they  desire  it.  It  agrees 
-  also  with  the  teaching  in  the  prologue  to  the  Fourth 
Gospel,  about  "the  true  light  that  lighteth  every 
man."      This   light,    which   is   identified  with    the 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS    101 

Word,  shines  in  the  darkness,  it  is  affirmed,  but  the 
darkness  does  not  apprehend  it,  —  or  else,  as  some 
translate,  the  darkness  does  not  overcome  it,  or  ex- 
tinguish it.  The  point  is  that  the  light  does  shine  in 
the  darkness.  This  "true  light"  is  manifested  in 
the  native  moral  judgment  and  religious  aspiration  of 
man ;  perhaps  also  in  the  entrance  of  higher  aims  to 
life,  unexplained  advances  whether  great  or  small  in 
morals  and  religion,  helps  to  better  living,  ministered 
by  the  unseen  Spirit.  If  it  is  true  that  there  is  such 
a  "light,"  then  God  has  never  forsaken  any  part  of 
his  human  world,  and  the  religions  of  mankind  may 
well  be  regarded  as  having  their  place  in  his  provi- 
dence. This  agrees  well  with  the  spirit  of  his  gos- 
pel, which  makes  known  a  God  concerning  whom  it 
is  inevitable  that  sooner  or  later  we  should  think  such 
thoughts  of  largeness  and  fidelity  to  his  creation. 
The  God  and  Father  of  Jesus  Christ  is  a  God  who 
cares  for  that  which  he  has  made,  and  when  we  know 
him  in  Christ  we  instinctively  feel  that  he  cannot 
have  left  himself  wholly  without  a  witness  among  his 
creatures  anywhere  or  in  any  period  of  their  career. 

But  another  statement  of  widely  different  tone 
must  be  added.  The  religions  of  the  world,  though 
they  are  expressions  of  the  religious  nature  of  man, 


102         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

are  also,  as  they  now  exist,  encumbrances  upon  the 
religious  nature  of  man. 

As  for  the  low  religions,  fetishistic  and  animistic, 
they  may  once  have  been  upward  calls  though  they 
called  but  a  little  way  upward ;  but  they  are  not  such 
now.  They  rule  by  terror,  and  maintain  a  tyranny 
over  the  religious  powers  of  those  who  live  under 
them.  The  unseen  powers  that  are  worshipped  are 
usually  regarded  as  unfriendly,  and  dreaded  for  the 
harm  that  they  can  do.  Hence  the  perpetual  depre- 
cations and  propitiations.  Ages  of  such  feeling  and 
practice  have  produced  a  habitual  fearfulness,  and  a 
complete  inability  to  shake  off  the  incubus  of  dread. 
The  religious  instinct  is  stopped  from  going  higher, 
without  being  really  satisfied,  and  the  religion  that 
holds  it  thus  in  hard  constraint  is  rather  an  encum- 
brance than  an  inspiration  and  a  comfort. 

The  higher  religions  would  seem  able  to  do  more 
for  the  satisfaction  of  the  religious  nature.  Some  of 
them  have  a  profound  philosophy,  and  have  raised 
certain  noble  souls  to  a  fervent  devotion.  Some  of 
them  contain  lofty  thoughts  and  worthy  prayers, 
uttered  and  recorded  long  ago  by  choice  spirits.  Yet 
in  sad  reality  the  higher  religions  rank  with  the  lower, 
as  encumbrances  upon  the  religious  nature  of  man- 
kind.    How  true  this  is,  and  how  it  comes  to  pass,  a 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS     103 

glance  at  some  facts  in  the  great  historic  religions  will 
suffice  to  show. 

In  Confucianism  the  religious  nature  of  man  is 
almost  left  out  of  the  account.  Among  the  common 
people,  the  highest  satisfaction  that  it  receives  is  pro- 
vided in  the  worshipping  of  ancestors.  The  field  of 
religion  is  occupied  almost  wholly  by  ethics,  and  by 
ethics  moving  on  the  plane  of  human  relations.  The 
whole  Confucian  system  is  exactly  a  burden  or  en- 
cumbrance upon  the  religious  nature,  preventing  it 
from  coming  to  its  due  development.  Religion 
suffers  from  being  subordinated  to  ethics.  In  Bud- 
dhism, and  in  Hinduism  too,  the  religious  nature  has 
a  different  weight  to  bear.  A  pessimistic  philosophy 
suppresses  it.  The  doctrine  of  universal  and  domi- 
nant evil,  so  great  and  deep  as  to  make  all  existence 
a  curse  to  those  who  suffer  it,  is  too  much  for  relig- 
ious life  and  feeling  to  thrive  under,  and  religion  dies 
down  discouraged,  as  it  must  where  there  is  no  hope. 
Religion  suffers  from  being  complicated  with  a  phi- 
losophy of  despair.  In  Hinduism,  as  in  the  Baal- 
worship  that  the  Hebrews  knew,  the  religious  nature 
is  fast  wrought  in  with  the  non-moral  nature-powers 
and  the  animal  element  in  man,  and  the  combination 
is  commemorated  in  lustful  and  degrading  rites. 
When  religion  comes  to  expression  on  the  side  of  feel- 


104  A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

ing,  its  outlet  is  found  in  what  is  gross  and  cruel, 
and  bloodshed  and  lust  come  to  be  elements  in  the 
ceremonial.  Thus  the  religious  nature  is  degraded, 
and  religion  suffers  from  alliance  with  nature-powers 
and  animal  impulses.  In  Mohammedanism  the  relig- 
ious nature  finds  yet  another  burden.  Here  there  is 
one  God,  who  is  declared  to  be  the  holy  and  merciful, 
but  he  is  altogether  transcendent,  and  not  accessible 
to  any  real  fellowship  of  man.  His  will  is  man's 
guide,  but  only  from  above  and  afar,  to  be  obeyed 
only  in  absolute  submission,  not  in  filial  life  and  love. 
So  the  religious  nature  finds  no  warm  exercise,  and  is 
set  free  only  to  works  of  obedient  routine  or  else  of 
fanatical  fervor.  Religion  suffers  from  the  chill  of 
bare  sovereignty.  Thus  in  one  of  the  great  religions 
the  religious  nature  of  man  is  imprisoned  in  human 
ethics ;  in  another,  it  is  depressed  by  a  dark  philoso- 
phy; in  another,  it  is  corrupted  by  coarse  feeling;  in 
another,  it  is  deadened  by  want  of  the  warmth  of 
divine  love.  In  other  words,  in  Confucianism  where 
the  religious  movement  is  ethical,  the  ethics  become 
human  and  religion  is  lost.  In  Buddhism,  where  it 
is  philosophical,  the  philosophy  becomes  pessimistic, 
and  religion  dies  out.  In  Hinduism,  where  it  is 
emotional,  the  emotion  becomes  degrading,  and  relig- 
ion is  defiled.     In  Mohammedanism,  where  it  is  doc- 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS     105 

trinal,  the  doctrine  becomes  cold  and  lifeless,  and 
religion  is  atrophied.  Everywhere  the  great  historic 
religions  of  the  world  have  come  to  be  encumbrances 
upon  the  religious  nature  of  man.  Everywhere  it  is 
the  religious  nature  that  suffers  under  their  influence. 
Nowhere  is  that  nature  permitted  to  rise  to  its  true 
proportions  and  develop  its  rightful  worth. 

The  reasons  why  the  religions  of  the  world  are 
encumbrances  upon  the  religious  nature  of  man  might 
be  variously  stated,  but  they  all  centre  in  one.  The 
religions  all  lack  the  one  thing  needful  if  religion  is 
to  do  its  beneficent  work  for  men.  There  is  no  one 
of  them  that  knows  a  personal  God,  of  inspiring  char- 
acter, so  related  to  men  that  they  can  have  personal 
relations  with  him.  The  only  monotheistic  religion 
among  them  is  Islam,  and  its  God  is  transcendent  and 
not  immanent,  a  sovereign  will  and  not  a  self- 
manifesting  friend.  A  personal  God  possessing  a 
moral  character  and  offering  himself  in  personal  rela- 
tions to  men  is  known  to  Christianity  alone.  So  far 
as  Judaism  is  an  exception,  it  is  such  because  it  par- 
takes of  a  common  stock  with  Christianity,  and  is 
part  and  parcel  of  that  revelation  of  the  living  God 
which  is  the  light  of  the  world.  Among  the  great 
religions,  the  doctrine  of  a  good  and  helpful  God  is 
peculiar  to  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ. 


106  A  STUDY   OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

Because  there  is  no  knowledge  of  such  a  God  it 
comes  to  pass  that  in  general  the  non-Christian  relig- 
ions are  worships  of  power,  rather  than  of  goodness. 
The  unseen  beings  that  are  addressed  in  worship  are 
regarded  chiefly  as  mighty,  and  therefore  able  to  do 
great  good  or  harm  to  men.  The  impulse  to  worship 
power  for  the  sake  of  advantage  is  indeed  a  first  im- 
pulse of  mankind,  characteristic  always  of  early 
stages  of  humanity ;  for  the  reality  of  power  is  per- 
ceived before  it  is  possible  for  character  to  be  highly 
appreciated,  and  the  conciliation  of  power  easily 
appears  to  be  a  necessity.  This  tendency  to  worship 
power,  and  to  deprecate,  propitiate  and  beg  off  in 
the  dreaded  presence  of  almightiness,  is  only  too 
common  still  among  Christians,  but  it  is  immeasurably 
more  characteristic  of  the  other  religions.  Moreover, 
Christianity  has  the  means  of  curing  it,  while  they 
have  not.  Worship  of  power,  however,  is  demoraliz- 
ing. When  unseen  beings  are  worshipped  chiefly 
because  of  the  good  or  harm  that  their  power  enables 
them  to  do,  the  tendency  to  take  a  slavish  and  cring- 
ing attitude  before  them  is  almost  irresistible,  and  a 
worthy  uplifting  of  the  soul  in  spiritual  adoration 
can  hardly  occur.  Not  until  worship  takes  on  the 
character  of  sincere  adoration  of  the  perfect  divine 
goodness,    and  humble   communion  with  the  good 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS    107 

God,  does  religion  obtain  its  true  character  and  come 
to  its  rightful  place  as  the  inspiration  of  the  worthi- 
est life.  In  so  far  as  the  religions  of  the  world  fail  to 
discern  the  perfect  character  in  God,  and  lead  to  the 
worship  of  power  rather  than  of  goodness,  they  lie  as 
a  heavy  encumbrance  upon  the  religious  nature  of 
man.  In  so  far  as  Christianity  is  able  to  bring  in  the 
revelation  of  the  perfect  God  and  lead  men  to  adore 
his  goodness  while  they  trust  his  power,  Christianity 
is  what  the  whole  world  needs. 

Our  second  question  is,  What  does  Christianity  as 
a  missionary  religion  propose,  with  regard  to  the  re- 
ligions that  exist  in  the  world  ?  The  answer  to  this 
question  is,  that  Christianity  proposes  to  win  men 
away  from  the  other  religions  by  bringing  them 
something  better,  and  to  take  the  place  of  the  other 
religions  in  the  world. 

The  attitude  of  the  religion  that  bears  the  name  of 
Jesus  Christ  is  not  one  of  compromise,  but  one  of 
conflict  and  of  conquest.  It  proposes  to  displace  the 
other  religions.  The  claim  of  Jeremiah  is  the  claim 
of  Christianity,  —  "  The  gods  that  have  not  made  the 
heavens  and  the  earth,  they  shall  perish  from  the 
earth  and  from  under  the  heavens."  The  survival 
of    the    creator,    joyfully   foreseen,    is    the    ground 


108         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

of  its  confidence  and  its  endeavor.  Christianity 
thus  undertakes  a  long  and  laborious  campaign,  in 
which  it  must  experience  various  fortunes  and  learn 
patience  from  trials  and  delays;  but  the  true  state 
of  the  case  must  not  be  forgotten,  namely,  that  Chris- 
tianity sets  out  for  victory.  The  intention  to  con- 
quer is  characteristic  of  the  gospel.  This  Avas  the 
aim  of  its  youth  when  it  went  forth  among  the  relig- 
ions that  then  surrounded  it,  and  with  this  aim  it 
must  enter  any  field  in  which  old  religions  are 
encumbering  the  religious  nature  of  man.  It  cannot 
conquer  except  in  love,  but  in  love  it  intends  to  con- 
quer.    It  means  to  fill  the  world. 

That  Christianity  ought  to  hold  such  an  aim  as  this 
is  denied,  of  course,  by  that  indifferentism,  men- 
tioned in  an  earlier  chapter,  which  thinks  one  religion 
about  as  good  as  another,  and  imagines  that  each 
race  already  has  the  religion  that  on  the  whole  is  the 
best  for  it.  But  this  indifferentism,  which  would 
stop  Christian  missions  altogether  if  it  had  its  way, 
is  grounded  in  ignorance  of  what  Christianity  is,  in 
comparison  with  the  religions  of  the  world.  If  Chris- 
tians entertain  it,  it  is  because  they  do  not  know 
what  they  have  in  Christ. 

That  Christianity  aims  to  displace  the  other  re- 
ligions and  conquer  the  world  through   missions  is 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   OTHER  RELIGIONS    109 

denied  also  by  those  who  entertain  the  second-advent 
view  of  the  gospel,  which  expects  only  a  short  work 
for  missions,  and  small  fruit  from  them.  But  it  is 
worthy  of  notice  that  any  missionary  work,  great  or 
small,  whatever  be  its  relation  to  the  long  sweep  of 
time,  does  seek  to  displace  and  supersede  other  relig- 
ions, at  least  in  individual  hearts  and  lives.  In  all 
such  labor  Christianity  does  set  itself  in  contrast  to 
the  other  religions,  seek  to  loosen  their  hold  upon 
men,  and  offer  its  own  blessings  in  place  of  their 
imperfections  and  disappointments.  If  the  work 
were  to  continue  but  a  year,  this  would  be  its 
nature.  What  is  here  asserted  is  simply  that  this 
which  is  the  immediate  object  in  missions  is  also 
the  final  object.  Christianity  sets  out  in  good  faith 
to  take  the  place  of  something  else,  or  there  would 
be  no  missions.  The  aim  is  but  one,  and  what  we 
seek  at  the  beginning  is  what  we  seek  throughout 
the  work  and  even  to  the  end. 

Our  third  question  is  the  question  of  every-day 
work.  What  position  ought  practically  to  be  taken 
and  maintained  in  missions,  in  relation  to  the  other 
religions?  These  religions  are  expressions  of  the 
religious  nature  of  man  and  yet  are  encumbrances 
upon  it,  and  Christianity  with   its   knowledge   and 


110         A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

experience  of  God  in  Christ  sets  out  to  dispossess 
them  among  mankind  and  take  their  place.  Four 
points  may  be  mentioned,  by  way  of  indicating  the 
attitude  toward  the  other  religions  that  ought  to  be 
held  in  Christian  missionary  work. 

a.  There  should  be  a  reasonable  effort  to  under- 
stand the  other  religions. 

This  ought  to  need  no  proof.  Any  missionary  is 
liable  any  day  to  encounter  a  keen  and  well-informed 
opponent  among  the  men  whom  he  is  seeking  to  win ; 
and  he  cannot  hope  to  disarm  such  an  opponent,  not 
to  speak  of  winning  him  over,  without  some  under- 
standing of  what  he  holds  already.  Yet  the  main 
point  is  not  that  Christianity  is  to  be  introduced  and 
commended  by  argument:  it  is  rather  that  one  who 
desires  to  win  another  to  a  new  and  better  faith  will 
find  it  necessary  to  enter  somewhat  into  the  spirit  of 
the  religion  that  he  would  influence  the  other  to 
abandon.  There  is  need  of  sympathetic  approach, 
which  implies  some  insight  into  the  state  of  the  other's 
mind.  In  no  country  is  ignorance  of  an  opponent's 
position  a  help  to  influence,  and  nowhere  is  unsym- 
pathetic blankness  concerning  another's  thought  any- 
thing but  a  barrier  between  souls.  Indeed,  how  shall 
we  defend  ourselves  from  the  charge  of  impertinence 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS    111 

and  trifling  with  sacred  things  if  we  go  and  try  to  win 
men  away  from  an  ancient  religion,  without  an  honest 
endeavor  to  understand  that  religion  as  it  really  is  ? 

This  means,  practically,  that  some  study  of  the 
particular  religion  that  a  missionary  is  to  deal  with 
should  be  made  by  him  before  he  enters  upon  the 
work.  A  man  who  is  going  to  India  should  learn 
something,  as  systematically  and  justly  as  possible, 
about  the  religions  of  India.  One  who  is  going  to 
China  should  do  the  same  with  the  religions  of  China. 
This  has  not  always  been  done,  and  men  have  been 
known  to  go  out  in  deep  ignorance  of  what  they  were 
to  meet.  Yet  the  statement  seems  too  reasonable  to 
admit  of  doubt. 

Concerning  this  preparatory  study  it  may  perhaps 
be  said  by  way  of  objection,  that  only  a  very  imper- 
fect knowledge  can  thus  be  obtained.  The  study  of 
Buddhism,  for  example,  in  America  will  give  only 
a  one-sided  conception  of  it,  and  may  easily  yield  a 
too  favorable  opinion.  One  may  learn  something  of 
its  history  and  philosophy,  it  may  be  said,  but  the 
real  Buddhism  itself  cannot  be  known  till  one  sees  it 
in  actual  life,  in  a  people  who  believe  in  it.  Not  till 
then  can  a  man  know  its  defects,  though  beforehand 
and  from  afar  he  may  learn  only  too  well  its  strong 
points. 


112         A   STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

There  is  truth  in  this  objection,  but  nevertheless 
there  is  need  of  exactly  such  preparatory  knowledge. 
There  are  two  ways  of  learning  about  a  religion  that 
is  not  one's  own,  — through  information  and  through 
observation,  —  and  both  are  necessary.  If  we  were 
speaking  of  Christianity  as  we  are  of  other  religions, 
we  should  certainly  say  that  in  all  fairness  it  must  be 
studied  as  well  as  observed.  One  who  sought  to 
know  it  by  living  in  America  or  Britain,  without 
studying  its  scriptures,  its  history  and  its  most  char- 
acteristic writings,  would  be  destined  to  think  he 
understood  it  when  he  did  not.  We  ought  to  treat 
Buddhism  as  fairly  as  we  would  demand  that  an- 
other should  treat  Christianity.  The  great  religions 
of  the  world  cannot  be  justly  known  without  being 
studied,  and  missionaries  ought  to  study  them. 

Moreover,  there  are  many  things  that  tend  to  make 
it  difficult  for  a  missionary  to  understand  a  religion 
well  by  observing  it  on  the  field.  A  foreigner,  be- 
ginning his  observations  in  ignorance  of  the  language 
and  customs  of  the  people,  is  necessarily  at  a  great 
disadvantage  in  his  efforts  to  understand  a  religion. 
Watching  religious  acts  without  the  power  to  con- 
verse about  them  is  the  worst  possible  introduction 
to  knowledge  of  their  meaning ;  but  this  is  the  for- 
eigner's invariable   approach.     His   disadvantage  is 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS    113 

all  the  greater  if  he  looks  upon  the  religion  as  some- 
thing that  must  be  destroyed,  and  that  he  must  take 
part  in  destroying.  Such  an  observer  is  certain  to 
miss  much  of  the  meaning  of  things  as  it  appeals 
to  the  men  who  are  influenced  by  the  religion,  and  to 
find  no  sense  whatever  in  much  that  to  them  is  sig- 
nificant.  To  a  foreigner,  and  especially  to  the  mind 
of  a  missionary,  a  religion  shows  its  weak  side ;  and 
there  is  no  certainty  that  observation,  unless  it  be 
long  and  unusually  sympathetic,  will  afford  a  com- 
prehensive and  well-balanced  knowledge.  A  mis- 
sionary must  deeply  feel  the  inferiority  of  the  religion 
that  he  seeks  to  displace  by  the  one  that  is  better, 
and  may  be  tempted  to  despise  it:  but  to  despise  it' 
is  neither  Christian  nor  wise.  He  may  easily  be  con- 
tent with  knowing  what  constitutes  its  weakness, 
but  he  needs  no  less  to  know  what  has  given  it  its 
strength.  Some  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  his- 
tory and  writings  of  a  religion  may  be  obtained  at 
home,  and  should  be  obtained  before  the  field  is 
entered. 

h.  The ,  difference  between  the  other  religions 
and  Christianity  should  not  be  minimized. 

It  should  not  be  represented  that  there  is  little  to 
choose  among  religions,  or  that  without  Christ  men 

8 


114         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

are  likely  to  grow  up  into  a  condition  as  good  as  that 
to  which  he  would  bring  them.  The  religion  of  the 
living  God,  and  of  his  grace  and  salvation  in  Jesus 
Christ,  should  be  presented  in  its  own  characteristic 
quality  and  strength,  and  made  to  appear  in  contrast 
to  all  other  religions  whatsoever.  The  power  of  God 
in  Christ  to  work  a  new  experience  and  make  of  men 
new  creatures  should  be  the  constant  theme.  In  the 
spirit  of  candor  and  love,  missionaries  should  always 
be  presenting  the  gifts  and  excellences  in  which 
Christianity  stands  alone,  and  should  make  it  plain 
that  this  is  the  religion  to  which  all  others  ought  to 
yield.  Compromise  between  religions  is  not  to  be 
thought  of  when  one  of  them  is  Christianity,  the  re- 
ligion of  the  real  God  and  Saviour.  This  point  is 
not  mentioned  because  missionaries  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  take  the  wrong  ground  respecting  it,  for 
they  have  not,  but  because  it  is  true  and  important, 
and  because  a  time  may  come  when  the  tendency  to 
overestimate  the  other  religions  will  affect  our  mis- 
sionary efforts. 

c.  Yet  all  good  that  other  religions  contain 
should  be  freely  and  generously  recognized. 

The  first  feeling  upon  entering  a  country  may  very 
naturally  be  horror  and  indignation  at  the  lowness 


CHRISTIAMTY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS    115 

of  life  and  the  seeming  emptiness  of  religion.  The 
conclusion  may  arise  that  the  religion  does  not  even 
contain  a  germ  of  truth  or  good ;  or  if  any  good  is 
acknowledged  in  it,  it  may  be  acknowledged  only  by 
grudging  concession,  and  treated  as  of  no  conse- 
quence. The  missionary  may  see  nothing  but  the 
evil,  and  be  sure  that  the  every-day  religion  is  abso- 
lutely worthless.  To  entertain  such  views  is  some- 
times held  to  be  a  duty.  It  is  often  supposed  to  be  a 
missionary's  function  to  paint  the  heathen  and  all 
that  pertains  to  them  as  darkly  as  possible,  in  order 
to  quicken  zeal  for  sending  them  the  gospel.  It  is 
easy  to  paint  their  religions  in  dark  colors,  and  over- 
look everything  in  them  that  deserves  a  brighter 
hue. 

Nevertheless  nothing  that  has  lived  long  and  been 
influential  like  the  great  religions  is  altogether  bad. 
The  better  element  exists,  and  is  not  wholly  severed 
from  the  common  life.  Those  who  are  taught  by 
Christ  ought  to  look  sympathetically  upon  the  relig- 
ious endeavors  of  humanity  beyond  the  circle  of  his 
great  revelation,  and  to  appreciate  any  good,  as  well 
as  any  evil,  that  may  be  found  there.  Any  common 
ground  that  a  missionary  can  legitimately  find  be- 
tween himself  and  the  people  whom  he  desires  to 
influence  is  just  so  much  clear  gain  for  his  purpose, 


116         A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

and  should  not  be  sacrificed.  Moreover,  a  missionary 
should  come,  in  the  course  of  time,  to  feel  a  genuine 
unity  with  his  people,  so  deep  and  strong  that  he  will 
not  willingly  talk  of  their  darker  side,  but  shall  be 
inwardly  impelled  to  cover  their  shame  and  hide  their 
disgrace,  rather  than  to  reveal  it.  Only  through 
such  identification  of  himself  with  his  people  in  their 
honor  and  dishonor  alike  can  he  expect  to  take  fast 
hold  of  their  inmost  hearts,  and  become  able  to  do 
for  them  the  greatest  possible  good.  Only  by  such 
chivalrous  love  and  self-identification,  it  may  also  be 
said,  can  he  fully  express  the  spirit  of  Christ  the 
lover  of  men.  Thus  for  every  reason,  — ■  in  order  to 
do  justice,  to  make  the  most  of  common  ground,  to 
enter  into  the  life  of  his  people,  and  to  be  in  full 
measure  a  Christian,  —  a  missionary  should  be  sure 
to  judge  generously  and  with  sympathetic  spirit  the 
religions  of  the  world  that  are  not  Christian,  What 
is  true  of  the  missionary  is  true  also  of  the  Christian 
people  everywhere.  Their  judgment  concerning  the 
religions  of  the  world  should  be  not  only  a  just  judg- 
ment, taking  account  of  all  points  of  strength  and 
weakness,  but  also  a  sympathetic  judgment,  into 
which  there  enters  a  heart  that  is  ready  to  bear  the 
burdens  of  others.  Contempt  and  proud  superiority 
have  no  place  here. 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS    117 

d,  Christ  should  be  presented  as  the  One  who 
brings  completion  to  all  the  partial  good  that  other 
religions  contain. 

They  are  religions,  more  or  less  correctly  so  named, 
and  they  have  grown  up  for  satisfaction  of  the  relig- 
ious element  in  man.  They  could  not  have  grown 
up  and  lived  so  long  a  life,  if  they  had  not  taken  a 
real  hold  upon  the  religious  nature  and  offered  some 
partial  good  for  its  satisfaction.  But  when  the  mis- 
sionary of  Christ  comes  in,  their  partial  good  is 
thenceforth  to  serve  as  the  suggestion  of  something 
better  and  more  complete.  The  elements  of  good 
that  they  contain  indicate  a  need  and  utter  a  call, 
rather  than  provide  a  satisfaction.  Christianity  offers 
the  satisfaction.  How  true  this  is,  a  few  specifica- 
tions will  suffice  to  show. 

The  religions  all  take  hold  of  the  human  instinct  of 
worship.  It  is  man  the  worshipper  who  has  them. 
But  they  lead  men  to  worship  inferior  objects,  and 
frequently  objects  utterly  unworthy.  Often  thej^ 
spend  the  strength  of  men  in  conciliating  powers  that 
are  supposed  to  be  unfriendly  or  actually  hostile. 
They  tend  to  make  of  worship  a  cringing  fear  or  else 
a  selfish  seeking.  The  instinct  of  worship  is  a  good 
thing,  and  the  practice  of  worship  is  right  and  good, 
but  the  good  is  only  partial  until  the  worthy  object 


118         A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

of  worship  is  set  before  the  soul.  Christianity  sets 
forth  the  Father,  and  calls  men  to  worship  the  perfect 
goodness  in  tender  and  holy  relation  with  themselves. 
It  not  only  gives  them  a  God  instead  of  gods;  it 
gives  them  a  God  who  is  worthy  of  all  their  adora- 
tion and  all  their  love,  and  it  wins  them  to  worship 
him  hy  means  of  his  gracious  self-revelation  and 
approach  to  them.  Thus  it  completes  the  partial 
good. 

The  religions  generally  know,  more  or  less  ade- 
quately, the  sense  of  sin.  Conscience  is  a  human 
endowment,  though  far  from  uniform  in  depth  and 
truthfulness.  Man  usually  knows  himself  wrong, 
sometimes  slightly  and  sometimes  profoundly,  an(J 
the  sense  of  sinfulness  gives  character  to  much  of  his 
religion.  The  keenness  of  the  sense  of  sin  is  dulled, 
in  China  by  the  absence  of  the  sense  of  God  and  in 
India  by  a  pantheistic  philosophy,  and  everywhere 
the  consciousness  of  being  wrong  is  awakened  in 
part  by  the  wrong  occasions;  and  yet  the  sense  of 
sin  is  not  destroyed.  The  sense  of  sin  is  a  good, 
because  it  is  a  sense  of  what  is  true.  It  would  be 
better  if  it  were  deeper,  because  the  truth  of  sin  is 
greater  than  the  religions  have  suspected.  The  gos- 
pel of  Christ  makes  greater  this  sense  of  a  great 
reality,    enlightens    the    conscience,    confirms    self- 


CHRISTIANITY  AND  OTHER  RELIGIONS    119 

blame,  and  brings  in  the  means  of  keeping  this  true 
consciousness  alive  in  spite  of  temptations  to  pride 
and  self-delusion.  But  it  does  more,  for  it  is  a  gos- 
pel of  salvation.  Of  relief  from  sin  the  religions  of 
the  world  know  nothing.  They  do  not  know  any- 
one God  so  related  to  men  that  forgiveness  can  be  an 
act  of  his ;  and  they  do  not  know  any  holy  and  gra- 
cious will,  from  which  the  delivering  of  men  from 
moral  evil  could  be  expected.  Christianity  offers  the 
free  forgiveness  of  sins  through  the  love  that  is  re- 
vealed in  Christ,  and  purification  from  sin  by  the 
indwelling  Holy  Spirit ;  and  its  offer  is  to  be  tested 
by  experience,  where  it  is  found  to  be  true.  Thus 
again  Christianity  completes  the  partial  good. 

The  religions  have  their  ethical  teaching.  In  some 
of  them  it  is  very  good,  up  to  a  certain  point.  Duty 
is  recognized,  more  or  less  clearly,  everywhere,  and 
principles  and  precepts  concerning  the  ethical  aspect 
of  life  are  everywhere  found.  Much  of  this  ethical 
teaching  is  worthy  of  grateful  recognition.  Chris- 
tianity should  neither  disparage  nor  fail  to  honor  the 
ethical  good  that  the  great  religions  embody  in  their 
teaching.  But  the  ethical  teaching  of  the  religions 
is  grounded  in  human  relations  alone,  and  not  in 
divine  and  eternal  realities.  It  is  not  an  evil,  but  a 
good,  to  ground  ethics  in  human  relations,  for  men 


120  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

are  so  related  to  one  another  that  duties  have  in  these 
relations  a  solid  ground.  But  this  is  only  a  partial 
good,  and  the  full  strength  of  ethics  is  not  discerned 
until  the  very  principle  of  duty  itself  is  felt  to  be 
grounded  in  the  eternal  reality  of  the  holy  and  gra- 
cious God.  Christianity  declares  that  this  is  true, 
and  thus  completes  the  partial  good  of  the  religions 
in  the  realm  of  ethics.  In  another  way  it  does  the 
same;  for  in  the  experience  of  the  Christian  life 
there  is  found  a  strong  and  soul-constraining  motive 
to  the  practice  of  high  ethics,  such  as  no  religion 
in  the  world  has  ever  known. 

The  religions  have  their  outlooks  into  another  life. 
The  sense  of  destiny  to  a  life  beyond  the  present 
enters  in  some  form  into  them  all.  The  outlook  is 
now  clear  and  decided,  now  dim  and  uncertain,  now 
strong  and  now  weak  in  consciousness  of  lasting  per- 
sonality, but  it  is  generally  real  and  influential. 
More  often  than  otherwise,  however,  it  has  no  bright- 
ness, but  is  rather  a  cloud  upon  the  present  life. 
Even  where  the  future  life  is  regarded  with  desire, 
the  desire  is  not  always  of  the  purest.  Doubtless 
any  outlook  into  the  future  life  is  a  good,  for  it  lifts 
man  above  the  earth,  and  constitutes  an  immeasur- 
able enlargement  of  the  scope  of  his  conscious  being. 
But  it  is  only  a  partial  good,  as  long  as  it  is  dark  and 


CHRISTIANITY  AND   OTHER  RELIGIONS    121 

cheerless  or  in  any  way  unworthy  of  the  best  that  is 
human.  Christianity  is  distinctly  a  religion  of 
immortality.  It  brings  immortal  hope  of  perfect 
goodness,  blessedness  and  usefulness  in  an  endless 
Christian  life  in  fellowship  with  the  good  God ;  and 
thus  it  gloriously  completes  the  partial  good  that  the 
religions  have  in  their  outlook  upon  the  future. 

In  all  these  important  respects  Christianity  crowns 
the  life  of  man,  and  brings  completion  to  what  his 
religions  have  offered  him.  To  the  need  of  the 
Christian  completion  missionaries  should  appeal. 
Men  have  enough  in  the  old  religions  to  make  them 
either  miserable  or  self-satisfied,  and  need  the  gifts 
of  Christ,  at  once  to  humble  them  and  lift  them  up 
to  the  true  blessedness.  In  proclaiming  the  good 
God  and  free  saving  grace  in  Christ,  the  missionary 
brings  to  all  imperfect  good  in  the  religions  of  the 
world  the  completion  that  it  needs,  and  offers  satis- 
faction to  the  longing  heart  of  mankind.  No  wonder 
that  Christ,  knowing  the  meaning  of  his  own  mis- 
sion, said  to  his  friends,  "Go,  make  disciples  of  all 
the  nations."  He  well  knew  that  no  religion  of  the 
world  is  worthy  to  stand  against  the  divine  message 
of  life  and  power  that  he  was  inspiring  his  friends  to 
bear. 


VI 

ORGANIZATION    FOR    MISSIONARY    PURPOSES 

Efficiency  in  missions  not  only  requires  a  true  sense 
of  the  end  in  view,  a  fair  knowledge  of  the  field  and 
a  just  estimate  of  other  religions;  it  also  demands 
some  organization  adapted  to  the  purpose.  Work  at 
random  is  largely  work  in  vain.  The  enterprise  is  in 
any  case  a  great  and  exacting  one,  and  common  wis- 
dom requires  that  the  work  be  rationally  organized. 

Certain  obvious  ideals  have  never  yet  been  attained. 
Thus  far,  no  comprehensive  plan  has  ever  been 
formed  for  uniting  the  entire  Christian  force  of  a 
country  for  missionary  effort.  Neither,  except  in 
some  very  limited  fields,  has  the  entire  missionary 
work  that  is  carried  on  in  a  single  foreign  country 
ever  yet  been  organized  as  a  whole  and  conducted  as 
a  single  enterprise.  These  are  obvious  ideals,  but 
apparently  they  'have  long  to  wait.  In  this  view, 
system  and  unity  of  organization  are  still  lacking,  and 
a  certain  loss  of  power  is  the  result. 

But  within  each  of  the  Christian  denominations  that 
are  engaged  in  missions  system  has  been  introduced 


ORGANIZATION  FOR  MISSIONARY  PURPOSES     123 

to  some  extent,  and  each  of  them  has  its  organization 
for  missionary  work.  Some  organizations  have  been 
formed  that  represent  Christians  in  various  denomina- 
tions, but  thus  far  the  greater  number  of  missionary 
organizations  have  been  denominational.  This  is  true 
both  of  home  missions  and  of  foreign. 

o 

Methods  of  denominational  organization  for  mis- 
sionary purposes  differ  according  to  the  structure  and 
practice  of  the  denominations  themselves.  Churches 
that  are  organized  as  wholes,  as  the  Presbyterian,  the 
Methodist  and  the  Episcopal,  commit  their  missionary 
work  to  official  church  Boards.  The  more  loosely- 
organized  denominations,  as  the  Congregational  and 
the  Baptist,  commit  theirs  to  voluntary  societies 
organized  specially  for  the  purpose.  In  actual  work 
on  the  mission-field,  however,  there  is  no  radical 
difference  between  the  official  Boards  and  the  volun- 
tary societies ;  and  the  entire  class  of  denominational 
organizations,  whether  official  or  voluntary,  may  just 
as  well  be  considered  together.  Much  that  is  said  of 
these  will  also  prove  equally  true  of  societies  that 
are  not  confined  to  a  single  denomination. 

The  functions  of  a  missionary  society,  or  board, 
as  they  are  exercised  in  the  present  order  of  things, 
are  somewhat  as  follows. 


124         A   STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

In  relation  to  the  Christian  people  at  home:  the 
missionary  society  is  the  representative  of  the  Chris- 
tian people,  organized  that  it  may  promote  and  con- 
duct their  missionary  enterprise.  In  this  relation  a 
society  has  various  duties.  It  has  to  work  upon  the 
home  people  whom  it  represents,  in  order  to  nourish 
in  them  the  missionary  interest.  To  this  end  it  must 
keep  in  communication  with  them,  and  disseminate 
helpful  information  of  every  kind,  and  thus  labor  to 
educate  the  church  in  heart  and  mind  for  the  fulfil- 
ment of  its  missionary  calling.  A  society  has  also  to 
collect  from  the  church  at  home  the  money  that  the 
work  requires.  For  the  use  of  this  money  after  it 
has  been  collected,  that  it  may  be  spent  as  wisely  as 
possible,  the  society  is  solely  responsible,  and  a  great 
responsibility  is  thus  laid  upon  it.  It  must  make  the 
plans  and  execute  them,  and  thus  take  practical 
charge  of  the  actual  work.  With  reference  to  this 
part  of  its  affairs,  a  missionary  society  is  a  business 
corporation,  under  obligation  to  conduct  its  business 
in  accordance  with  the  methods  of  the  world  and  to 
maintain  a  commercial  standing,  with  credit  above 
reproach ;  and  at  the  same  time  it  is  a  religious  or- 
ganization, bound  to  maintain  the  Christian  spirit 
and  judgment  in  its  affairs,  and  conduct  the  mis- 
sionary enterprise  as   a  Christian  service.     It   must 


ORGANIZATION  FOR  MISSIONARY  PURPOSES    125 

be  frank  in  its  reports,  and  must  in  every  way  be 
careful  to  deserve  and  retain  the  confidence  of  its 
constituency. 

In  relation  to  missionaries:  the  society  is  the 
employer  and  supporter  of  the  missionaries  on  the 
field,  and  the  body  to  which  they  are  responsible.  A 
society  seeks  out  men  and  women  who  are  fit  and 
willing  to  engage  in  missionary  service.  It  judges 
of  their  qualifications,  and  when  they  are  approved  it 
takes  them  into  its  service  and  distributes  them 
among  its  fields  of  labor.  In  the  distribution  it  must 
study  adaptation  as  far  as  possible,  and  must  consider 
the  necessities  that  various  fields  present.  It  conveys 
the  missionaries  to  their  fields  of  labor.  It  has  to 
obtain  and  own  suitable  land  and  buildings  for  their 
residence  and  work,  and  the  various  appliances  that 
the  work  requires.  It  maintains  communication  with 
them,  receives  their  reports  from  time  to  time,  coun- 
sels with  them  and  directs  them  with  reference  to 
their  work,  provides  for  them  while  they  are  engaged 
in  missionary  service,  and  takes  care  of  them,  so  far 
as  it  is  right  that  they  should  be  taken  care  of,  when 
they  are  disabled  or  worn  out.  The  society  is  the 
responsible  director  of  a  general  missionary  policy, 
and  must  develop,  from  experience  and  observation, 
a  method  of  applying  general  principles  to  the  task 


126  A   STUDY   OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

in  hand.  Questions  often  arise  concerning  which 
it  might  seem  to  an  observer  that  the  missionaries  on 
the  field  ought  to  have  the  deciding  voice,  but  con- 
cerning which,  nevertheless,  the  society  at  home,  as 
the  director  of  a  missionary  policy  broader  than  any 
single  field,  is  rightly  the  court  of  last  resort.  Of 
course  a  society  must  always  seek  to  deserve  and 
possess  the  confidence  of  its  missionaries. 

In  relation  to  the  missionary  enterprise  in  general : 
the  society  is  organized  to  study  the  missionary 
problem,  and  to  seize  the  missionary  opportunity. 
Of  course  a  society  must  maintain  a  thorough  ac- 
quaintance with  all  of  its  own  various  fields.  It  must 
be  familiar  with  their  locality  and  history,  understand 
their  various  conditions  of  work,  and  be  informed  of 
their  progress.  In  concert  with  the  missionaries  it 
must  conduct  the  large  work  upon  intelligent  and 
appropriate  methods.  But  it  must  look  beyond  its 
own  operations,  and  acquire  for  its  use  a  large  knowl- 
edge of  missionary  work  in  general.  It  must  be 
familiar  with  the  whole  enterprise.  Learning  from 
all  sources,  it  must  become  possessed  of  a  rational 
and  Christian  missionary  policy,  according  to  which 
it  shall  steadily  and  patiently  conduct  its  work.  It 
must  see  what  others  are  doing,  in  order  to  learn. 
It  must  investigate  possible  improvements  in  mission- 


ORGANIZATION  FOR  MISSIONARY  PURPOSES    12T 

ary  methods,  and  introduce   them  to  its  own  work 
whenever  it  is  practicable.     While  it  firmly  holds  the 
methods  that  its  own  experience  has  vindicated,  it 
must  yet  be  ready  for  better  methods  as  soon  as  they 
can  be  brought  in.     Moreover,  a  society  must  always 
be  watching  the  movements  of  the  world.     It  must 
take  advantage  of  new  openings  when  they  appear, 
and   organize   forward    movements   in   new  regions 
whenever  it  is  wise  and  practicable  to  do  so.     It 
ought  to   live   in  fraternal   consultation  with   other 
societies  of  similar  purpose,  and  be  ready  in  every 
way  to  further  the  extension  of  the  kingdom  of  God. 
This  brief  statement  is  far  from  telling  all  that  has 
to  be  done  by  that  great  corporate  personality  which 
we  call  a  missionary  society  or  board.     But  enough 
has   been   said   to   make  it  plain   that  a  missionary 
society  is   constantly  bearing   a  vast  responsibility. 
In  respect  of  responsibility  and  laboriousness,  there 
is  scarcely  any  other  Christian  service  that  is  compar- 
able to  that  of  the  officers  of  such  societies.     Mis- 
sionary secretaries  have  to  conduct  a  work  of  which 
the  delicacy  and  difficulty  are  very  largely  unappre- 
ciated.    It  can  scarcely  be  otherwise,  for  very  few 
persons  know  missionary  operations  from  the  inside, 
and  most  Christians  have  no  experience  that  would 
help  them  to  enter  into  the  problems  of  the  missionary 


128         A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

board.  But  the  fact  ought  to  be  taken  more  closely 
home  to  the  popular  Christian  heart,  that  a  mission- 
ary society  is  conducting  a  work  of  exceptional  mag- 
nitude and  difficulty,  under  conditions  that  render 
mis  judgment  of  its  doings  extremely  easy;  and  that 
its  officers  deserve  sympathetic  and  respectful  judg- 
ment from  all  their  brethren. 

It  is  the  common  practice  to  conduct  the  work  of 
missions  through  the  agency  of  great  societies,  but 
this  method  does  not  escape  criticism.  Some  think 
it  can  be  improved  upon.  The  advantages  and  dis- 
advantages of  this  method  of  operation  may  be  stated 
and  compared. 

In  favor  of  working  through  the  great  societies  it 
may  be  said  that  this  method  concentrates  missionary 
interest  and  effort  among  Christians.  So  large  a 
work  seems  to  call  for  large  groupings  of  force. 
With  respect  to  the  missionaries  themselves,  this 
method  provides  a  way  in  which  earnest  men  and 
women  may  enter  fields  of  missionary  service,  which 
by  themselves  they  might  not  be  able  to  reach.  It 
offers  a  ready  channel  for  the  missionary  interest  and 
gifts  of  Christians.  It  conducts  the  work  more 
economically  than  it  could  be  conducted  by  scattered 
efforts.     It  has  the  valuable  effect  of  unifying  the 


ORGANIZATION  FOR  MISSIONARY  PURPOSES    129 

work  of  a  particular  group  or  company  of  Christians, 
so  that  the  supporters  of  the  work  can  see  it  for  what 
it  is,  and  the  results  can  be  brought  tangibly  before 
them  so  as  to  awaken  their  gratitude,  confirm  their 
confidence  and  deepen  their  interest.  It  gives  a 
group  of  Christians  a  group  of  missions,  and  keeps 
the  world  from  seeming  too  large.  It  fosters  a  sense 
of  unity  between  group  and  group,  and  renders  com- 
munication easy. 

It  may  be  said  also  that  the  method  of  working 
through  societies  promotes  efficiency  on  the  field. 
As  a  rule,  under  all  methods  that  have  yet  prevailed, 
missionaries  must  be  supported  from  home.  They 
cannot  generally  do  efficient  work  and  earn  their  own 
living.  If  there  are  exceptions  to  this  rule  they  are 
rare.  If  it  ever  becomes  common  for  entire  com- 
munities to  be  transported  from  Christian  lands  into 
heathen  countries,  there  may  be  self-supporting  mis- 
sionaries in  considerable  numbers ;  but  that  is  no  part 
of  the  present  method.  At  present,  the  society 
assures  a  proper  support  to  the  missionaries,  and 
leaves  them  free  for  their  work.  Not  often  has  the 
promised  support  failed.  Again,  missionaries  work 
better  for  being  in  groups;  and  a  society  places  and 
arranges  them  better  than  separate  individuals  would 
be  likely  to  place  themselves.     Missionary  work  re- 


130         A   STUDY   OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

quires,  as  we  have  said,  a  steady  and  intelligent 
polic}^,  a  method  of  applying  principles,  under  which 
the  labor  of  many  men  through  many  years  may  be 
gathered  into  unity  by  wise  counsel  and  directed  to  a 
common  end.  A  great  society  is  able  to  have  a 
strong  continuous  policy,  whereby  strength  is  con- 
served and  waste  of  energy  is  measurably  prevented ; 
but  missionaries  laboring  separately  would  inherit  no 
traditions  of  method,  and  be  sustained  by  no  organ- 
ized experience,  and  find  a  strong  policy  almost 
beyond  their  reach.  It  should  be  added  that  the 
present  method  renders  possible  some  intelligent 
planning  for  extension  of  the  work,  offers  some 
security  against  disaster  from  unexpected  misfortune, 
and  provides  some  readiness  for  those  occasional 
costly  enlargements  of  operation  which  success  in 
missions  renders  obligatory. 

Against  these  advantages  certain  disadvantages 
must  be  offset.  There  are  some  serious  risks  of 
mistake  and  harm. 

In  its  relation  to  the  people  at  home,  a  society  may 
become  too  independent  a  corporation.  Like  any 
representative  body,  a  missionary  society  may  become 
narrow  and  dictatorial.  It  may  largely  forget  that  it 
represents  the  people.     It  may  fall  out  of  sympathy 


ORGANIZATION  FOR  MISSIONARY  PURPOSES    131 

with  the  people,  and  become  unresponsive  to  the  best 
in  their  Christian  thought  and  feeling ;  or  it  may  be 
too  far  in  advance  of  the  people,  and  lead  on,  more 
bravely  than  wisely,  where  they  are  not  prepared  to 
follow.  It  may  assume  to  possess  all  the  wisdom  that 
there  is,  and  try  to  repress  healthy  criticism  upon 
its  proceedings.  It  may  be  weak  or  unwise  in  finan- 
cial management,  and  thus  alienate  its  indispensable 
friends  by  failing  to  command  their  confidence.  All 
these  mistakes  are  possible.  It  should  be  added,  how- 
ever, that  such  dangers  at  home  are  greatly  dimin- 
ished by  the  constant  dependence  of  a  society  upon 
the  people  whom  it  represents.  A  society  that  is 
seriously  distrusted  by  its  constituents  will  hear  from 
them,  in  a  manner  that  cannot  be  disregarded. 

In  its  relation  to  its  missionaries  abroad  a  society 
is  not  less  beset  with  risks  of  error.  It  may  not 
trust  its  missionaries  sufficiently,  and  may  thus 
alienate  them.  It  may  be  overbearing  toward  them ; 
or,  on  the  contrary,  it  may  yield  to  them  too  much, 
to  the  sacrificing  of  its  own  duty  of  general  control. 
It  may  be  rash  or  unwise  or  prejudiced,  in  the  adjust- 
ment of  such  personal  differences  as  are  liable  to  arise 
on  the  field.  It  may  grope  its  way,  and  not  attain  to 
a  genuine  missionary  policy;  or  it  may  adopt  one 
that  is  not  wise.     Even  a  good  general  policy  it  may 


132         A   STUDY   OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

apply  too  narrowly  and  rigidly,  as  if  it  were  sure  to 
suit  all  cases  alike.  It  is  very  easy  for  a  missionary 
society  to  become  too  conservative.  Its  own  accepted 
ideas  and  traditional  practices  may  obtain  too  strong 
a  right  of  way  in  its  proceedings.  It  may  be  too 
timid  about  trusting  new  impulses.  A  society  is  sure 
to  become  a  large  owner  of  real  estate  abroad,  and  of 
invested  funds  at  home ;  and  vested  interests  always 
incline  in  some  way  toward  conservatism.  The  diffi- 
culty of  introducing  new  things  in  Christian  thought 
and  teaching  may  easily  postpone  or  forbid  what  is 
really  a  duty,  and  keep  the  mission-fields  far  behind 
the  church  at  home  in  Christian  knowledge.  Further, 
a  society  may  persist  in  remaining  too  long  in  fields 
where  it  has  invested  much  labor,  and  be  too  slow 
in  striking  out  into  new  endeavors.  Old  necessities 
may  prevent  the  call  of  ncAV  from  being  heard,  when 
it  ought  to  be  attended  to. 

Both  at  home  and  abroad,  the  existence  of  a  great 
society  may  have  the  effect  of  repressing  individual 
initiative.  This  fault  is  often  charged  upon  societies, 
and  it  is  possible  for  the  accusation  to  be  true.  A 
society  may  come  to  think  itself  the  only  agency,  and 
its  way  the  only  way.  It  may  have  no  welcome  for 
suggestions  of  improvement  in  its  methods.  It  may 
discourage    fresh    movements  in   new  forms,    even 


ORGANIZATION   FOR  MISSIONARY  PURPOSES    133 

though  they  give  good  evidence  of  having  sprung 
from  the  Spirit  of  God.  It  may  underestimate 
and  practically  disparage  Christian  independence, 
and  boldness  in  holy  enterprise,  preferring  what  is 
moderate  and  seems  safe  to  what  is  courageous  and 
seems  too  full  of  risk.  This  over-cautious  tendency 
is  inevitably  increased  by  the  dependence  of  a  great 
treasury  upon  popular  contributions,  which  are  always 
uncertain  in  amount  and  may  at  any  time  so  disap- 
point expectations  as  to  render  debt  unavoidable.  It 
is  a  great  work  of  faith  in  any  case  to  administer 
the  vast  work  of  a  missionary  society  in  reliance  upon 
church  contributions  for  support,  and  it  would  be 
nothing  strange  if  in  such  conditions  the  impulse  of 
faith  were  sometimes  lost  in  the  over-cautiousness 
that  comes  of  frequent  disappointment. 

These  are  perhaps  the  main  advantages  and  disad- 
vantages of  conducting  missions  through  the  agency 
of  great  societies  or  boards.  But  it  must  not  fail  to 
be  added  that  the  history  of  missionary  societies  has 
on  the  whole  been  highly  honorable  and  successful. 
Mistakes  have  of  course  been  made,  and  no  adminis- 
tration has  been  perfect ;  but  there  is  great  reason  to 
be  thankful  for  the  piety  and  wisdom  that  have  gen- 
erally been  manifest  in  the  management  of  our  great 
missionary  societies.     They  are  often  sharply  criti- 


134         A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

cised,  and  it  is  needless  to  admit  that  sometimes  the 
criticism  is  just  and  the  blame  that  is  given  is  de- 
served. But  in  the  current  experience  of  the  years, 
apart  from  special  cases  and  occasions,  it  is  the  fact 
that  the  sharpest  criticism  usually  comes  from  those 
who  know  the  work  only  from  the  outside,  and  have 
no  idea  either  of  its  real  magnitude  or  of  the  immense 
complications  that  it  involves.  Large  parts  of  the 
work  of  missionary  boards  imply  matters  that  are 
private  and  confidential  in  their. nature.  A  certain 
amount  of  reserve  is  absolutely  required  by  justice 
and  by  the  interests  of  the  work.  Matters  that  can 
be  openly  discussed  are  often  fully  intelligible  only 
to  those  who  know  great  classes  of  surrounding  facts. 
When  a  society  or  board  is  blamed  about  some  occur- 
rence on  the  foreign  field,  there  is  almost  sure  to  be 
involved  some  personal  matter  in  which  prejudice  for 
or  against  some  one  may  easily  mislead  an  outside 
judgment,  and  even  in  the  inner  circle  a  just  and 
wise  judgment  requires  the  utmost  caution.  All  ad- 
ministrative work  is  of  course  justly  open  to  candid 
and  reasonable  criticism,  and  no  missionary  society 
expects  or  asks  to  escape  it ;  but  there  are  compara- 
tively few  persons  who  are  thoroughly  qualified  to 
criticise  the  administration  of  the  great  missionary 
organization,  except  in  a  very  general  way.     Even 


ORGANIZATION  FOR  MISSIONARY  PURPOSES    135 

for  those  who  have  intimate  knowledge  enough  to  be 
capable  of  intelligent  criticism,  it  often  proves  far 
easier  to  see  faults  in  the  policy  of  the  great  societies 
than  to  propose  radical  improvements  upon  their  gen- 
eral method  of  administration.  It  is  a  case  where 
correction  even  of  acknowledged  faults,  though  it  be 
ever  so  much  desired,  is  often  beset  with  unsuspected 
difficulty.  Hence  the  case  is  one  that  evidently  calls 
for  mutual  confidence  and  loyal  co-operation  among 
those  who  are  interested  together  in  missions.  Our 
great  societies  occasionally  need  reproof,  and  oftener 
need  improvement,  but  they  usually  ought  to  have 
the  hearty  confidence  and  support  of  the  people  whom 
they  represent. 

Within  recent  years  a  new  feature  of  organization 
has  appeared,  in  the  formation  of  separate  missionary 
societies  by  women.  Generally,  though  not  always, 
these  work  in  connection  with  denominational  socie- 
ties. They  adopt  certain  parts  of  the  work,  espe- 
cially in  education,  and  support  their  own  laborers  in 
the  field.  Women  have  proved  unusually  successful 
in  collecting  missionary  contributions  in  moderate 
amounts  from  a  wide  circle  of  givers.  They  have 
shown  power  in  administration  also,  and  their  work 
as  a  whole  has  abundantly  justified  itself  by  its  use- 


136         A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

fulness.  This  separate  organizing  of  women  has  come 
naturally  in  the  period  when  women  are  justly 
claiming  their  opportunity  and  proving  their  power 
in  large  affairs,  and  it  is  serving  a  most  useful  pur- 
pose. Nevertheless  one  can  scarcely  think  of  it  as 
the  ideal  plan  for  centuries  to  come.  Most  probably 
the  separateness  will  by  and  by  prove  to  have  done  its 
work,  and  a  larger  and  more  effective  unity  will 
follow,  in  which  all  separate  powers  combine  to 
strengthen  one  another  in  a  common  endeavor. 

Other  methods  than  that  of  great  societies  are  often 
proposed.  This  is  not  surprising,  for  there  is  no 
presumption  that  any  one  way  of  organization  is  the 
only  good  way,  and  the  existing  method,  as  we  have 
seen,  has  its  defects  as  well  as  its  excellences.  In 
the  denominations  that  hold  to  the  congregational 
polity  there  are  some  who  think  that  Christianity 
properly  knows  no  organization  but  the  local  church, 
and  feel  that  to  conduct  missionary  work  through  an 
official  board  or  a  voluntary  society  is  to  neglect  this, 
the  one  organization  through  which  Christian  work 
ought  to  be  done.  From  this  view  of  the  case  comes 
now  and  then  the  proposal  that  each  church  send  out 
its  own  missionary  or  missionaries,  and  directly  as- 
sume their  support  and  the  oversight  of  their  work. 


ORGANIZATION  FOR  MISSIONARY  PURPOSES    137 

A  strong  church  might  send  out  a  man,  or  a  family, 
or  more  than  one.  Churches  of  less  ability  might 
combine  their  forces,  and  a  group  or  association  of 
such  churches  might  take  care  of  a  man,  or  a  family. 
The  support  of  the  missionary  would  then  be  a  fixed 
charge,  to  be  counted  in  among  the  regular  expendi- 
tures of  the  church,  like  the  support  of  the  pastor. 
In  such  cases  the  missionary  would  report  to  the 
church  or  larger  group  by  which  he  was  supported, 
and  receive  from  it  whatever  counsel  or  direction  he 
was  to  have  from  the  home-country.  Not  the  same 
as  this  by  any  means,  it  should  be  noticed,  is  the 
plan  followed  in  some  cases,  for  a  local  church  to 
have  its  own  chosen  missionary  on  the  foreign  field 
and  support  him  through  the  general  society,  to  which 
he  is  responsible  as  its  other  missionaries  are. 

In  favor  of  this  plan  of  church -missions  it  is 
claimed  by  those  who  rise  to  urge  it,  that  it  would 
put  the  responsibility  where  it  belongs,  on  the  actual 
living  members  of  the  churches;  that  since  interest 
goes  with  responsibility,  it  would  vastly  extend  in- 
telligent interest  in  missions  among  the  churches  at 
home ;  that  it  would  distribute  both  the  responsibility 
and  the  interest  over  a  far  wider  field,  and  would 
thus  be  likely  to  draw  out  a  larger  and  better  body  of 
recruits  for  the  foreign  service ;  that  it  would  put  the 


138         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN   MISSIONS 

chief  honor  and  burden  upon  faith,  by  leading  to 
immediate  reliance  upon  the  actual  missionary  spirit 
and  the  power  of  God  in  Christians  instead  of  upon 
the  machinery,  as  it  is  often  called,  of  missionary 
boards  and  business  methods ;  and  that  in  every  way 
it  corresponds  better  to  the  spirit  of  Christ  than  the 
ordinary  method  of  working  through  societies. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  is  urged,  against  this  plan  of 
church-missions,  that  the  missionary  work  requires 
not  faith  alone,  but  also  wisdom  and  good  judgment ; 
that  this  plan  would  make  missionaries  dependent 
upon  local  interest  in  a  narrow  field,  which  might 
prove  fitful,  and  upon  financial  ability  that  might  un- 
expectedly fail,  and  thus  subject  them  to  danger  of 
neglect,  suffering  and  inability  to  carry  on  their  work ; 
that  it  would  entrust  large  distant  interests  to  the 
hands  of  ill-informed  people,  and  thus  render  unwise 
management  certain ;  that  it  would  render  practically 
impossible  any  comprehensiYC  missionary  policy,  and 
make  the  work  accidental  and  fragmentary;  that  it 
would  naturally  limit  the  provision  to  bare  necessities, 
and  fail  to  provide  for  those  occasional  extraordinary 
expenditures  which  are  rendered  necessary  by  success 
as  well  as  by  unforeseen  misfortunes,  and  are  indis- 
pensable to  efficiency;  and  that  the  enterprise  of 
planting   Christianity   in  new  lands  requires   effort 


OKGANIZATION  FOR  MISSIONARY  PURPOSES    139 

more  deliberate  and  well-directed  than  any  that  this 
method  seems  to  promise. 

How  far  is  such  a  method  practicable  ?  There  are 
many  churches  to  which  it  would  be  financially  pos- 
sible. A  few  may  be  found  that  are  strong  enough  in 
organization  and  wise  leadership  to  work  in  this  way 
with  some  promise  of  success.  Missionary  operations 
call  for  statesmanship  as  well  as  faith.  There  are  not 
very  many  churches  that  possess  the  gifts  for  such 
administration  of  distant  affairs ;  and  even  in  the  case 
of  these  it  would  always  be  a  question  whether  their 
separate  work  was  as  useful  as  the  same  amount  of 
work  done  in  the  fellowship  of  a  larger  body.  As  for 
the  smaller  churches  that  would  have  to  work  in 
groups,  a  group  of  them  would  almost  invariably  be 
found  lacking  in  the  administrative  ability,  the  large- 
ness of  mind  and  the  unity  of  counsel  that  such  work 
would  require.  Those  who  propose  this  method 
usually  do  not  know  how  exacting  a  work  the  con- 
ducting of  missions  really  is.  While  the  societies  do 
their  work  as  well  as  they  have  done  it  hitherto, 
probably  the  method  of  separate  local  support  will 
not,  and  should  not,  be  largely  adopted.  Neverthe- 
less, to  say  this  is  not  altogether  to  rule  the  method 
out  as  one  that  has  no  chance  of  being  valuable.  It 
is  quite  conceivable  that  conditions   might  arise  in 


140         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

which  a  spiritual  and  efficient  church  would  be  led 
by  true  Christian  spirit  and  judgment  to  found  a 
mission  of  its  own. 

Along  with  church-missions,  individual  missions 
should  be  mentioned.  Wealthy  individuals  or  fam- 
ilies have  sometimes  established  missions  of  their  own, 
and  sustained  them  with  generous  and  watchful  care. 
Such  undertakings  often  spring  from  the  genuine 
Christian  heart,  and  are  conducted  with  great  self- 
sacrifice,  and  with  much  usefulness.  It  needs  no 
proof,  however,  that  they  should  be  undertaken  only 
with  the  utmost  thoughtfulness  and  caution.  Pecu- 
liar perils  attend  them,  for  lives  are  short  and  for- 
tunes are  uncertain,  and  the  long  and  various  work  is 
liable  to  develop  emergencies  that  may  overtax  the 
wisdom  or  patience  of  individual  founders.  We 
meet  also  with  individuals,  or  very  small  groups  of 
persons,  who  go  to  foreign  lands  at  their  own  charges, 
to  work  apart  from  any  organization.  The  motive  to 
such  personal  movements  is  often  most  excellent,  but 
their  fate  is  often  most  pathetic.  They  frequently 
end  in  disaster,  and  even  at  the  best  such  an  enter- 
prise is  rarely  anything  but  wasteful  of  energy. 
They  are  wasteful  even  of  faith.  Individual  missions 
of  both  the  classes  that  have  now  been  mentioned 
usually  meet  one  of  two  destinies :  they  become  ex- 


ORGANIZATION  FOR  MISSIONARY  PURPOSES    141 

tinct,  or  else  they  are  absorbed  into  the  work  of  some 
society.  This  outcome  is  natural.  The  fact  is 
confirmed  by  all  sorts  of  experience,  that  in  the  great 
world-enterprise  of  missions  there  is  need,  even  in 
local  work,  of  the  united  faith,  wisdom  and  energy 
of  many  minds.  Even  in  a  limited  field,  far  from 
home,  an  individual  or  a  little  group  alone  is  at  a 
disadvantage.  There  is  no  good  work  in  which  large 
co-operation  and  the  massing  of  resources  are  more 
important  than  in  Christian  missions. 

The  general  conclusion  is,  that  an  individual  who 
desires  to  be  useful  as  a  foreign  missionary  will  do 
best,  generally  speaking,  to  ally  himself  to  some 
well-organized  society,  denominational  or  interdenom- 
inational, and  become  one  laborer  among  many,  re- 
sponsible to  a  strong  and  intelligent  directing  power. 
This  method  has  its  drawbacks  and  disadvantages, 
but  they  are  far  less  than  the  helps  and  advantages 
that  it  offers  for  effective  work. 

Yet  the  fact  remains  that  all  plans  should  leave 
room  for  new  methods.  It  is  not  to  be  assumed  that 
the  only  good  way  has  been  found,  or  that  present 
methods  are  sufficient  for  the  future.  The  present 
organization  of  Protestant  Christendom  for  missionary 
work  is  sadly  inadequate.     If  proof  of  this  were  de- 


142         A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

manded,  we  should  only  need  to  point  to  the  inability 
of  any  single  society  to  do  justice  to  the  work  that  is 
open  to  it  in  any  single  one  of  its  fields,  and  the  daily 
necessity  under  which  the  societies  find  themselves 
of  turning  away  from  new  openings  full  of  promise. 
It  is  sometimes  said  that  Christendom  is  playing  at 
missions.  That  is  not  true,  but  it  is  true  that  Chris- 
tendom is  working  at  missions  with  very  imperfect 
appliances.  We  must  live  in  hope  of  more  effective 
organization  by  and  by. 

A  day  may  come  when  the  problem  will  somehow 
solve  itself.  If  Christendom  should  some  day  rise  in 
its  spiritual  might  and  move  with  one  impulse  upon 
the  non-Christian  world  for  its  conversion,  the  present 
channels  of  activity  would  be  insufficient,  and  new 
ones  would  be  discovered.  When  the  Christian 
people  are  thoroughly  awake  to  missions,  they  will 
need,  and  will  find,  more  various  and  elastic  methods 
of  organization  than  have  yet  appeared.  For  every 
reason,  —  because  of  the  present  defects,  and  in  hope 
of  the  coming  of  that  better  day,  —  room  should  be 
left  in  our  plans  for  new  methods,  and  ardent  desire 
should  be  reaching  out  toward  them.  Organization 
is  in  constant  danger  of  becoming  machinery.  Its 
besetting  peril  is  that  it  may  repress  the  life  that  it 
was  created  to  serve.     Great  societies  are  almost 


ORGANIZATION   FOR  MISSIONARY  PURPOSES     143 

never  rash,  and  are  likely  to  be  over-cautious;  and 
yet  what  seems  rash  is  sometimes  divine.  The  bold 
enterprise  of  David  Livingstone  in  Africa,  begun 
under  the  direction  of  a  society  but  continued  inde- 
pendently through  the  power  of  personal  faith,  has 
been  worth  more  than  words  can  tell  for  the  invigor- 
ation  of  the  missionary  spirit  throughout  the  world. 
We  may  be  sure  that  the  Spirit  of  God  will  now  and 
then  awaken  brave  souls  to  such  holy  ventures ;  and 
the  sentiment  of  the  church  should  be  such  as  to 
assure  them  a  recognition  and  a  welcome,  while  the 
methods  of  the  church  should  not  be  so  hardened  as 
to  leave  them  no  room  when  they  appear.  Such 
movements  of  faith  are  universally  admired  when  they 
have  passed  into  history :  they  ought  to  be  appreciated 
when  they  are  making  history.  Great  organizations 
should  not  repress  them,  and  the  church  should  pray 
for  them  and  expect  them,  and  utilize  them,  when 
they  come,  as  fresh  and  noble  means  of  bringing  in 
the  kingdom  of  God. 


VII 
DENOMINATIONS   IN  MISSIONS 

In  the  missionary  enterprise  Christendom  offers  its 
religion  to  the  world.  But  neither  Christendom  as  a 
whole,  nor  even  the  Protestant  part  of  Christendom, 
has  ever  yet  engaged  in  this  work  as  one  body 
laboring  together.  The  work  has  been  taken  up  by 
groups  of  Christians  when  they  were  ready  for  it,  and 
has  been  continued  by  their  successors.  Conse- 
quently, missionary  work  embodies  the  divisions  of 
Christendom.  Every  church  has  its  missions,  and 
most  missions  are  denominational.  In  Japan,  for 
example,  all  the  principal  Protestant  churches  have 
their  missions,  laboring  side  by  side  with  the  Greek 
church  and  the  church  of  Rome.  In  many  lands 
missions  of  the  various  Protestant  bodies  live  as 
neighbors,  in  some  respects  strengthening  and  in 
others  weakening  one  another.  The  native  churches 
that  are  gathered  on  mission-fields  are  so  organized  as 
to  embody  the  peculiarities  of  the  churches  at  home 
by  whose  efforts  they  were  founded.  Thus  it  comes 
to  pass  that  the  laboring  force  is  divided,  and  that 
the  divisions  of  Christendom  are  perpetuated  abroad. 


DENOMINATIONS  IN  MISSIONS  145 

There  are  certain  undenominational  or  interde- 
nominational missions  in  our  day,  and  it  might  be 
thought  that  these  would  illustrate  the  unity  that 
the  others  fail  to  make  apparent.  To  some  extent 
they  do  this,  for  they  gather  laborers  from  various 
Christian  bodies,  to  take  part  in  a  common  work. 
But  it  is  found  as  a  matter  of  fact  that  these  missions 
represent  groups  of  Christians  who  hold  some  views 
in  common,  or  entertain  similar  views  about  mission- 
ary methods,  as  really  as  do  the  strictly  denomi- 
national societies.  The  unities  of  Christendom  are 
not  all  organized.  There  are  lines  of  unity  that  cut 
across  the  lines  of  organization,  and  some  of  them 
are  quite  as  strong  as  the  lines  on  which  organization 
has  proceeded.  An  undenominational  mission  usually 
represents  some  one  of  what  have  been  called  the 
interdenominational  denominations,  of  which  there 
are  several  existing  and  active  at  present.  It  may  be 
added  that  an  individual  mission  usually  represents 
some  special  point  of  view  in  doctrine  or  in  method. 
If  the  individual  were  not  peculiar,  he  would  probably 
work  with  some  society.  Thus  it  happens  that  both 
the  undenominational  and  the  personal  missionary 
efforts,  instead  of  diminishing  the  division  on  the 
field,  tend,  in  some  respects  at  least,  to  increase  it. 
Certainly  the    interdenominational   missions    divide 

10 


146         A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

the  effort  of  all  the  denominations  from  which  they 
draw  support. 

We  need  not  inquire  whether  some  other  way 
than  the  denominational  would  not  have  been  better 
at  the  beginning  of  the  modern  missionary  movement, 
for  at  the  time  no  other  way  was  possible.  The  method 
introduced  itself,  and  has  perpetuated  itself,  without 
the  intention  or  the  fault  of  any  one. 

When  Carey  was  moved  to  go  to  the  heathen  and 
sought  to  organize  a  body  to  sustain  his  work,  he 
could  not  wait  to  unite  various  Christian  bodies  in  a 
comprehensive  missionary  enterprise :  he  had  enough 
to  do  in  uniting  his  little  group  of  Baptists.  He  was 
quite  justified  in  pushing  out  to  his  work  abroad  as 
soon  as  anything  like  support  could  be  arranged 
within  his  own  circle.  If  he  had  stayed  to  argue 
the  cause  of  union,  he  might  have  died  in  England. 
So  in  America,  when  Judson  and  his  companions 
desired  to  go  to  the  heathen,  they  naturally  appealed 
to  their  own  group  of  churches,  the  Congregational, 
for  support.  The  American  Board  of  Commissioners 
for  Foreign  Missions,  which  was  formed  to  adopt  and 
support  their  work,  was  formed  as  a  society  of 
Congregationalists.  The  Presbyterian  and  Reformed 
churches  joined  after  a  short  time  in  its  operations, 


DENOMINATIONS  IN  MISSIONS  147 

but  in  later  years  they  withdrew  to  form  denomina- 
tional organizations  of  their  own,  that  being  the 
method  of  the  period.  When  Judson  and  Rice  be- 
came Baptists  on  their  outward  journey,  no  one 
thought  of  such  a  thing  as  that  they  could  remain 
with  the  American  Board  and  Baptists  could  there 
contribute  to  their  support.  Their  change  of  views 
resulted  at  once  in  severing  their  connection  with  the 
society  that  had  been  formed  in  the  interest  of  their 
work,  and  compelled  the  Baptists  to  organize  them- 
selves for  missionary  purposes.  So  it  has  usually 
been :  missionary  beginnings  were  made  as  they 
could  be  made,  and  denominational  divisions  entered 
into  the  structure  because  they  were  so  great  an 
element  in  the  Christian  life  of  the  time.  Work 
thus  organized  has  continued  until  now  on  the  lines 
upon  which  it  was  begun.  There  has  been  no  wilful 
division  in  entering  the  mission-field.  The  action 
was  only  such  as  was  natural  and  inevitable  in  the 
existing  conditions. 

Yet  there  was  one  interesting  exception,  suggestive 
of  what  might  have  been.  The  London  Missionary 
Society  was  formed  in  1795,  three  years  later  than 
the  Baptist  Missionary  Society  which  rose  in  answer 
to  the  call  of  Carey.  Presbyterians,  Independents  and 
members  of  the  Church  of  England  united  in  forming 


148         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

this  later  body,  it  being  easier  for  these  three  bodies 
to  unite  in  organized  effort  than  for  any  of  them  to 
unite  with  the  Baptists.  The  new  society  declared, 
"That  its  design  is  not  to  send  Presbyterianism, 
Episcopalianism,  or  any  other  form  of  church  govern- 
ment (about  which  there  may  be  differences  of 
opinion  among  serious  persons),  but  the  glorious 
gospel  of  the  blessed  God,  to  the  heathen,  and  that 
it  shall  be  left  (as  it  ought  to  be  left)  to  the  minds  of 
the  persons  whom  God  may  call  to  the  fellowship  of 
his  Son  from  among  them,  to  assume  for  themselves 
such  form  of  church  government  as  to  them  shall 
appear  most  agreeable  to  the  word  of  God."  One 
cannot  but  wonder  what  would  have  been  the  result 
if  this  principle  had  been  steadily  acted  upon  in  a 
long  campaign  by  the  three  powerful  bodies  that 
were  represented  in  the  society.  But  it  was  not  to 
be  shown.  After  a  time,  as  missionary  interest  ex- 
tended, the  Episcopalians  and  Presbyterians  with- 
drew to  work  through  organizations  of  their  own, 
and  the  London  Society  was  left  to  the  Independents, 
who  have  since  mainly  carried  it  on.  It  thus  be- 
came practically  a  denominational  society  in  spite  of 
itself,  but  the  noble  original  statement  of  its  broad 
purpose  has  always  been  retained.  The  temporari- 
ness  of  this  large  and  catholic   union  is  enough  to 


DENOMINATIONS  IN   MISSIONS  149 

show  that  the  time  was  not  ripe  for  the  method  that 
it  represented,  and  the  denominational  plan  was  the 
only  practicable  one.  So,  if  we  wish  the  basis  had 
been  broader,  we  have  not  to  blame  our  fathers  in 
England  or  America  for  organizing  their  missionary 
work  according  to  their  divisions.  They  did  as  they 
could. 

The  denominational  method  that  was  thus  naturally 
adopted  can  claim  some  practical  advantages. 

It  is  needless,  since  no  other  way  was  practicable, 
to  dwell  upon  the  claim  that  no  other  way  would 
actually  have  secured  so  much  vigor  in  the  prosecu- 
tion of  missionary  work.  Whatever  may  have  been 
the  ideal  way,  this  at  the  time  was  the  only  practical 
working  method,  and  it  certainly  has  ministered  to 
vigor  in  the  work.  All  denominations  have  held 
the  common  substance  of  Christianity,  and  have 
desired  to  present  it  to  the  heathen  world.  Here 
resides  the  great  central  missionary  motive.  But 
at  the  same  time  each  denomination  has  believed  it- 
self to  be  right  in  its  peculiarities,  and  has  thought  it 
right  that  they  should  be  received  wherever  the  gos- 
pel entered.  Thus  to  the  broad  general  motive  there 
has  been  added  a  narrower  but  perfectly  sincere 
motive   to   the  strong  sustaining  of   the  work  that 


150         A  STUDY   OF   CHRISTIAN   MISSIONS 

each  denomination  had  in  hand.  The  combination 
has  had  a  real  effectiveness  in  quickening  interest 
in  the  work.  Whether  we  call  it  the  noblest  thing 
or  not,  we  cannot  deny  its  power,  and  need  not 
hesitate  to  acknowledge  its  practical  value. 

There  has  been  manifest  also  this  strong  point 
in  the  denominational  method,  that  it  entrusts  each 
mission,  and  each  separate  missionary  enterprise,  to 
a  somewhat  compact  and  available  body  of  people, 
not  too  large  to  devote  to  it  a  special  attention  and 
interest.  The  early  committing  of  the  Hawaiian 
work  to  the  constituency  of  the  American  Board, 
of  the  work  in  Syria  to  the  Presbyterians,  of  the 
work  in  Burma  to  the  Baptists,  and  of  their  own 
fields  generally  to  the  various  Christian  bodies,  has 
resulted  in  decided  advantage  to  all  parties.  There 
has  been  a  distinct  missionary  trust  committed  to 
each  body,  and  each  mission  has  had  its  keeper. 

We  sometimes  hear  it  claimed  for  the  denomina- 
tional system  that  the  resulting  rivalries  have  led 
to  greater  intensity  in  effort,  and  have  thus  made 
missions  more  successful.  This  is  a  region,  however, 
in  which  it  is  well  to  be  careful  about  our  claims. 
Mere  denominational  rivalry  is  not  so  good  a  thing 
that  we  can  afford  to  boast  much  of  its  spiritual 
fruits.     Successes    built  on   denominational   rivalry 


DENOMINATIONS  IN  MISSIONS  151 

are  not  sure  to  be  of  the  first  quality.  But  we  may- 
well  pause  also  over  the  question  of  fact.  Denomi- 
national rivalry,  properly  so  called,  has  not  played  a 
very  large  part  in  producing  genuine  missionary 
activity.  It  may  sometimes  have  led  missionaries 
to  try  to  gather  in  one  another's  converts,  but  that 
is  not  missionary  work.  It  is  true,  however,  that 
the  existence  of  missionary  work  in  various  denomi- 
nations has  wrought  an  honorable  emulation  that  has 
often  been  helpful  to  efficiency.  The  zeal  and  suc- 
cess of  one  Christian  body  has  often  stirred  another 
to  fresh  interest.  But  this  is  not  properly  denomi- 
national rivalry :  this  is  only  an  honorable  provok- 
ing of  one  another  to  love  and  good  works,  which 
might  just  as  well  occur  if  fields  were  parcelled  out 
on  some  other  plan  than  the  denominational. 

To  offset  its  strong  practical  points,  the  denomi- 
national system  has  its  serious  disadvantages,  which 
are  sometimes  overstated  and  sometimes  underesti- 
mated. Some  think  the  evils  of  the  method  tend 
to  become  more  manifest  as  the  work  advances,  and 
some  think  they  tend  to  fade  away. 

We  cannot  well  deny  that  the  denominational 
method  is  wasteful.  In  the  home  field  we  are  ex- 
tremely familiar  with  the  superfluous  expenditure 
of  strength  and   means   because   of  denominational 


152         A   STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

division.  The  work  of  home  missions  has  suffered 
enormously  from  this  cause,  and  is  suffering  still, 
just  as  the  cause  of  Christianity  is  suffering  in  large 
communities  and  in  small  throughout  the  country. 
The  fact  of  this  great  waste  is  beginning  to  be  taken 
to  heart,  but  to  stop  it  is  not  so  easy.  Abroad  the 
evil  has  not  attained  such  proportions  as  at  home, 
but  it  exists.  It  certainly  would  seem  that  in  Shang- 
hai or  Calcutta,  for  example,  the  existing  missionary 
force,  representing  several  societies  and  denomina- 
tions, each  with  its  real  estate,  its  appliances  for 
work  and  its  expenses  of  administration,  could  be 
worked  far  more  economically  if  it  were  a  single 
force  operating  together.  It  may  be  said  indeed 
that  there  is  plenty  of  room  for  all,  and  that  where 
the  need  is  boundless,  strength  and  means  cannot 
easily  be  spent  in  vain.  Yet  the  question  remains 
why  appliances  should  be  duplicated;  why  men  in 
different  missions  should  devote  their  time  to  doing 
the  same  kind  of  work  when  one  might  do  it  for 
both ;  why  the  benefit  of  one  society's  pioneering 
should  not  accrue  in  full  to  all  Christian  laborers. 
It  seems  a  pity  that  the  whole  body  of  men  and 
means  cannot  be  wielded  at  the  very  best  advan- 
tage. Yet  with  the  denominational  system  more  or 
less  of  waste  is  inevitable  ;  and  it  would  seem  that 


DENOMINATIONS  IN   MISSIONS  153 

ihe  larger  the  work  the  more  serious  must  be  the 
evil. 

A  more  serious  fact  is  that  the  denominational 
method  exhibits  a  weak  side  of  the  existing  Chris- 
tianity in  non-Christian  lands.  Though  Christians 
endeavor  to  win  the  world  to  one  faith,  they  do  not 
go  about  the  endeavor  in  oneness  of  effort.  Chris- 
tendom presents  itself  to  the  world  as  divided.  Of 
course  the  representation  is  correct,  for  Christendom 
is  divided.  Yet  the  greater  is  the  pity,  when  the 
work  in  hand  is  the  offering  of  the  one  faith  to  the 
world.  The  denominational  method  in  missions 
emphasizes  the  fact  that  Christianity  has  not  yet 
been  able  to  unite  its  own  people  in  a  practical  work- 
ing fellowship,  or  even  to  make  them  of  one  mind 
as  to  what  Christianity  itself  really  is.  The  fact  of 
division  in  practical  work  calls  attention  to  the  points 
of  difference.  It  magnifies  differences,  and  tends 
to  put  all  churches  on  the  defensive  with  respect  to 
the  peculiarities  that  separate  them  from  one  another. 
Thus  the  method  contains  a  strong  tendency  to  the 
promotion  of  controversy,  and  makes  Christian  bodies 
appear  farther  apart  than  they  really  are.  Some- 
times the  prominence  thus  given  to  differences  among 
Christians  has  proved  embarrassing  in  its  effect  upon 
the  actual  work.     Missionaries  have  sometimes  been 


154         A   STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

asked  to  agree  upon  what  they  wished  an  inquirer 
to  accept  as  Christianity,  before  he  would  favorably 
consider  their  proclamation  of  it :  and  we  cannot 
deny  that  from  the  inquirer's  point  of  view  the  re- 
quest is  reasonable.  This  kind  of  embarrassment 
is  most  to  be  expected  in  countries  where  the  people 
have  become  awake  to  modern  thinking,  and  it  would 
seem  that  it  must  increase  with  the  advancement  of 
converts  in  intelligence.  For  the  sake  of  missions 
as  well  as  on  other  grounds  we  may  well  pray  and 
labor  for  the  day  when  Christianity  shall  present  it- 
self to  the  world  in  a  real  and  practical  unity. 

It  must  also  be  acknowledged,  that  the  denomi- 
national method  passes  on  to  the  converts  from 
heathenism  the  differences  and  divisions  that  have 
become  injurious  to  Christendom.  The  differences 
and  divisions  have  had  their  reasons  for  existing,  and 
have  not  been  altogether  harmful,  but  their  presence  in 
Christendom  in  such  abundance  is  not  the  ideal  thing, 
and  they  certainly  "have  wrought  injury  to  Christianity. 
It  seems  at  present  as  if  the  Cliristians  of  the  East 
would  have  to  fight  over  again  many  of  the  historic 
battles.  We  certainly  are  placing  among  them  the 
elements  of  such  a  warfare  when  we  plant  among 
them  our  various  churches,  and  teach  them  to  prize 
the   doctrinal  and    practical    peculiarities   of    these 


DENOMINATIONS  IN  MISSIONS  155 

several  churches  as  essential  parts  of  the  religion  of 
Christ.  It  certainly  would  seem  as  if  the  older 
Christendom  might  have  fought  some  of  these  battles 
once  for  all,  and  might  now  hand  on  to  a  new  race 
of  Christians  either  the  fruits  of  conflict  or  the  terms 
of  truce;  but  we  seem  to  be  assuming  that  the 
battles  must  be  fought  again  on  the  new  fields  that 
we  are  opening.  We  are  planting  a  new  Christen- 
dom, without  guarding  it  against  a  continuation  of 
our  old  contentions.  The  full  effect  of  this  legacy 
of  the  old  Christendom  to  the  new  cannot  be  mani- 
fest until  the  work  is  farther  advanced  than  it  has 
3^et  become.  While  missions  continue  mainly  separ- 
ate, forming  communities  that  mingle  but  slightly 
with  one  another,  the  full  effect  does  not  appear. 
When  Christianity  in  mission-countries  has  become 
strong  enough  to  demand  the  co-operation  of  all  its 
scattered  adherents  for  large  Christian  purposes,  the 
case  will  be  somewhat  different.  It  will  then  appear 
whether  the  divisive  and  disintegrating  tendencies  of 
denominationalism  are  overcome  by  better  influences. 
One  other  drawback  to  the  current  method  should 
be  pointed  out  as  sure  to  be  developed  in  the  course 
of  time.  The  denominational  spirit  is  steadily  de- 
clining at  home,  and  a  time  is  coming  when  the  hold 
of  the  denominations  on  their  people  will  be  weaker 


156         A   STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

than  it  is  now,  and  far  weaker  than  it  was  when  the 
missionary  organizations  were  formed.  But  the  most 
of  the  organizations  are  closely  tied  by  their  consti- 
tutions to  denominationalism,  and  each  of  them  has 
a  denominational  constituency.  As  a  rule,  none  but 
Methodists  contribute  to  Methodist  missions,  and 
Presbyterians  to  the  Presbyterian  work,  and  so  on. 
The  method  works  well  for  the  time,  but  it  would 
seem  that  when  denominational  bonds  are  somewhat 
loosened,  denominational  missions  must  encounter 
hard  times.  Very  much  of  our  missionary  work  is 
so  wrought  in  with  denominational  life  as  to  be 
greatly  at  the  mercy  of  changes  in  such  life  that  are 
sure  to  come.  But  the  hope  is  that  before  that  day 
arrives  the  missionary  motive  may  have  grown  so 
strong  and  fine  and  independent  as  to  be  able  to  meet 
the  crisis  without  loss  of  power.  In  fact,  that  Chris- 
tian spirit  which  transcends  sectarian  limits  is  lead- 
ing on  toward  this  very  end. 

It  must  be  thankfully  added,  however,  that  there  are 
better  influences  at  work,  and  that  the  evils  that  un- 
questionably belong  to  the  denominational  method  in 
missions  are  greatly  diminished,  in  actual  experience, 
by  the  operation  of  the  Christian  spirit  on  the  field. 
It  is  sometimes  alleged  that  missionaries  are  more 


DENOMINATIONS  IN  MISSIONS  157 

anxious  to  make  adherents  to  their  own  denomina- 
tion than  to  make  Christians.  But  the  charge  is 
not  true  of  missions  in  general,  or  on  any  large 
scale  anywhere.  It  is  one  of  those  reckless  ac- 
cusations from  which  the  missionary  cause  has  so 
often  had  to  suffer.  It  is  also  alleged  that  neigh- 
boring missions  of  different  denominations  are  often 
grasping  after  one  another's  converts,  and  taking 
other  unfair  advantages.  No  doubt  such  things 
have  been  done,  and  perhaps  are  still  done  now  and 
then;  but  they  have  always  been  exceptional,  and 
they  form  no  part  of  any  one's  missionary  policy. 
All  societies  of  good  standing  are  opposed  to  such 
proceedings,  in  themselves  as  well  as  in  their  neigh- 
bors. Not  all  missionaries  are  broad-minded  or  high- 
minded,  and  transgressions  do  sometimes  occur,  but 
they  are  becoming  less  with  the  progress  of  the 
work. 

Both  societies  at  home  and  missions  on  the  field 
have  cordially  agreed  in  late  years  to  the  principle 
known  as  missionary  comity,  which  is  the  principle 
of  mutual  recognition,  non-interference  and  helpful- 
ness. The  application  of  the  principle  is  not  always 
easy,  and  perplexing  questions  arise  in  connection 
with  it,  but  the  principle  itself  is  loyally  accepted 
and  more  and  more  acted  on.     Something  is  done  by 


158         A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

way  of  territorial  division  and  avoidance  of  fields 
already  efficiently  occupied,  though  much  that  seems 
desirable  in  this  respect  has  failed  thus  far  to  be 
found  possible.  Thus  American  societies  generally 
have  left  Burma  to  the  Baptists,  who  first  occupied 
it ;  and  the  society  of  that  denomination  has  repeat- 
edly declined  to  enter  the  field  of  the  Presbyterians 
and  Congregationalists  in  Turkey.  Neighboring  mis- 
sions are  coming  more  and  more  to  respect  one 
another's  discipline,  and  to  consult  together  respect- 
ing certain  scales  of  expenditure  on  the  field.  The 
principle  of  comity  is  applied  in  some  degree,  though 
as  yet  very  imperfectly,  to  the  question  of  entering 
territory  newly  opened  to  missionary  work.  In  en- 
tering new  fields  the  unquestionable  difficulties  in 
the  way  of  Christian  comity  are  too  often  triumphant. 
Where  different  denominations  are  working  side  by 
side,  as  they  are  in  many  cities  of  India,  China  and 
Japan,  missionary  comity  makes  them  mutual  helpers 
rather  than  opponents  or  rivals  to  one  another.  It 
ought  to  be  said,  however,  that  what  is  known  as 
missionary  comity  receives  a  special  name  simply  for 
convenience,  —  it  is  no  special  thing.  It  is  nothing 
but  the  Christian  mind  of  fellowship  and  fair  dealing, 
applied  to  the  problems  of  denominational  work  in 
Christian  missions.     It  is  simply  mutual  recognition, 


DENOMINATIONS  IN  MISSIONS  159 

in  the  name  of  the  Lord  and  of  common  wisdom. 
Sometimes  one  almost  suspects  that  missionary 
comity  may  be  in  some  danger  of  being  taken  for  a 
separate  Christian  grace. 

Concerning  native  Christians,  various  events  illus 
trate  their  sense  of  unity  among  themselves,  in  spite 
of  the  divisions.  An  interesting  fact  was  reported  a 
few  years  ago  from  northern  China.  It  was  pro- 
posed that  certain  native  churches  of  the  American 
Board  and  the  London  Missionary  Society,  both 
Congregational,  should  form  a  union,  on  the  common 
ground  of  their  church  polity.  But  the  native  Chris- 
tians were  unwilling  to  unite,  on  the  ground  that 
agreement  in  church  polity  was  not  enough  to  justify 
such  union.  They  declared  that  if  they  united  be- 
cause of  their  Congregationalism  in  polity,  they  would 
be  turning  their  backs  upon  other  Chinese  Christians 
about  them,  who  were  just  as  near  and  dear  to  them 
as  those  who  held  this  polity.  Thus  the  spirit  of  a 
larger  unity  asserted  itself.  Among  Christians  who 
are  thus  minded,  the  evils  of  formal  division  are 
reduced  to  the  lowest  terms. 

As  to  prospects  and  duties  for  the  future,  it  does 
not  appear  that  any  general  change  from  the  denomi- 
national method  in  missions  is  possible  at  present,  but 


160         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

constant  effort  should  be  made  to  avoid  its  incidental 
evils. 

The  interdenominational  societies  that  have  arisen 
do  not  prove  to  bring  any  great  contribution  to  this 
problem.  They  bring  individuals  from  various  de- 
nominations to  their  aid,  but  they  generally  hold 
such  special  views  or  employ  such  special  methods  as 
to  be  virtually  denominational  after  all.  No  unde- 
nominational movement  has  arisen,  or  seems  likely 
soon  to  arise,  that  is  capable  of  standing  as  successor 
to  the  great  denominational  agencies.  The  method 
abroad  cannot  be  altered  until  great  changes  have 
been  wrought  at  home ;  and  though  changes  with  re- 
gard to  denominationalism  are  undoubtedly  looming 
up  in  sight,  they  have  not  yet  become  so  definite  as 
even  to  suggest  any  distinct  possibilities  concerning 
altered  methods  in  missions.  Whatever  God  may 
have  in  store  for  the  remoter  future,  the  present 
methods  have  yet  a  good  while  to  last.  All  the  more 
urgent  therefore,  is  the  duty  of  making  them  as  free 
from  harm  as  possible.  All  must  be  done  to  diminish 
the  evils  of  separation  and  relieve  the  missionary 
work  of  any  embarrassment  that  results  from  it. 
Denominational  ser\dce  and  Christian  co-operation 
must  go  hand  in  hand.  Differences  must  be  mini- 
mized on  the  foreign   field.     A   foreign   missionary 


DENOMINATIONS  IN  MISSIONS  161 

should  hold  the  steadfast  purpose  to  do  two  things,  — 
to  extend  the  special  work  to  which  he  is  specially 
committed,  and  to  commend  Christianity  in  its  one- 
ness to  the  world.  These  two  things,  surely,  ought 
to  be  capable  of  being  done  together.  Missionaries 
abroad  are  greatly  helped  toward  a  genuine  unity  by 
the  great  conferences  that  bring  them  together  from 
the  length  and  breadth  of  China  or  of  India.  Chris- 
tians at  home  received  a  similar  gift  of  blessing  from 
the  Ecumenical  Conference  of  1900,  in  New  York. 

A  question  of  great  interest  and  importance  arises 
with  reference  to  the  future  of  denominations  in  the 
mission-field.  What  are  the  Christian  churches  of 
the  mission-field  destined  to  be  hereafter?  Will 
they  continue  to  be  like  the  chui-ches  through  whose 
efforts  they  were  founded  ?  Will  the  denominations 
last  in  foreign  countries  ?     And  ought  they  to  last  ? 

Denominations  reproduce  their  kind,  and  mission- 
aries plant  churches  like  the  churches  that  they 
represent.  The  Church  of  England  in  India  has  its 
dioceses  and  bishops,  as  at  home.  It  makes  the 
prayer-book  the  basis  of  public  worship  as  it  does 
in  England,  and  forms  the  church  in  the  foreign 
country  after  the  likeness  of  the  home  church. 
Presbyterians  and   Methodists   introduce   into  their 

11 


162         A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN   MISSIONS 

missions  their  own  polity  and  their  doctrines  and 
traditional  practices.  The  class-meeting  is  as  much 
an  institution  in  Methodist  missions  as  it  is  in  Amer- 
ica. In  Burma  there  exist  essentially  the  same 
Baptist  institutions  as  in  America,  —  local  churches 
with  pastors  and  deacons,  ministers  ordained,  public 
worship  as  at  home,  church  customs  in  general 
introduced  by  missionaries  and  adopted  with  the 
new  faith.  Similar  contributions  from  home  were 
carried  to  the  Hawaiians  by  the  representatives  of 
the  American  Board.  All  this  was  natural  and  right. 
But  the  question  inevitably  arises  whether  that  which 
has  thus  been  planted  can  be  expected  to  remain 
unchanged.  In  considering  this  question  all  the  de- 
nominations must  of  course  be  grouped  together,  — 
for  we  cannot  each  deduct  his  own  from  the  total, 
and  inquire  whether  the  planting  of  the  others  ought 
to  remain  unchanged.  All  the  denominations  have 
planted  their  own  doctrines  and  practices,  and  the 
resulting  question  concerns  them  all.  The  question 
is,  Ought  the  existing  Christian  denominations  to  im- 
part their  respective  peculiarities  permanently  to  the 
Christian  communities  that  they  have  helped  to 
found  ?  Will  the  peculiarities  imparted  from  the  west 
remain  in  the  thought  and  practice  of  the  eastern 
peoples?     Can  they  remain?     Ought  we  to  desire  it, 


DENOMINATIONS  IN  MISSIONS  163 

expect  it  and  plan  for  it  ?  Will  the  existing  denomi- 
nations stay  permanently  where  in  the  founding  of 
missions  they  have  been  placed?  And  in  connec- 
tion with  these  questions,  in  what  spirit  ought 
denominational  missions  to  look  into  the  future? 
What  kind  of  developments  should  they  expect? 

The  plain  answer  to  this  question  is,  that  the 
practical  dictation  that  came  naturally  and  seemed 
inevitable  at  first  cannot  continue  permanently,  and 
ought  not.  Both  in  doctrine  and  in  practice,  each 
people  must  ultimately  be  itself.  The  future  of  any 
given  people  in  these  respects  must  be  determined 
by  its  own  national  and  racial  character,  under  the 
influence  of  a  vital  Christianity.  So  it  has  always 
been  in  Christian  history,  and  so  it  must  be.  Along 
with  Christianit}^  itself,  we  have  introduced  to  Asia 
various  forms  of  religious  life  and  practice  that  have 
grown  up  in  Europe  and  America  and  are  at  home 
there ;  but  there  is  no  certainty  that  they  will  be  per- 
manent in  Asia,  or  that  they  can  be  so.  Rather  does 
all  history  assure  us  that  forms  of  religious  life  and 
practice  that  are  to  be  permanent  in  Asia  must  grow 
up  in  Asia.  Permanent  borrowing  is  impossible. 
Nor  does  Asia  need  to  borrow  from  us,  except  for 
temporary  use.     We  know  what  Christ  can  do  for  a 


164         A   STUDY   OF   CHRISTIAN   MISSIONS 

people,  in  the  course  of  time.  Christian  truth  and 
life  will  ultimately  take  new  forms  in  the  oriental 
mind,  through  the  long  course  of  Christian  experience, 
and  will  take  various  forms  in  the  experience  of  vari- 
ous peoples ;  and  the  consequence  must  be  that  the 
native  Christian  communities  grow  away  more  or  less 
from  the  style  and  form  of  Christianity  that  they  first 
received  from  other  nations.  As  there  are  English 
and  German  and  American  forms  of  Christianity, 
so  there  will  yet  be  Indian  and  Chinese  and  Japa- 
nese forms  of  Christianity,  the  special  peculiarities 
of  which,  whether  in  doctrine,  in  organization  or  in 
customs,  no  man  can  foresee.  The  only  thing  clear 
and  certain  is  that  Christ  will  bring  forth  in  the 
foreign  peoples  new  forms  of  life,  to  supersede  those 
which  for  his  name's  sake  we  gave  them. 

The  attitude  of  the  Christian  people  toward  this 
certainty  of  change  ought  to  be  taken  in  the  brave 
and  generous  spirit  of  faith.  Doubtless  we  ought 
to  desire  Christianity  to  do  as  much  for  the  new 
peoples  as  it  has  done  for  our  predecessors  and  for 
us,  and  we  ought  confidently  to  expect  that  it  will. 
If  it  is  not  to  be  so,  then  we  are  handing  on  to 
others  a  diminished  blessing,  instead  of  a  germinant 
gift.  But  if  Christianity  really  does  as  much  for 
the  peoples  to  whom  we  carry  it  as  it  has  done  for 


DENOMINATIONS  IN  MISSIONS  165 

our  ancestors  and  for  us,  there  will  come  to  be  new 
modes  of  Christian  experience,  new  aspects  of  doc- 
trine, new  views  of  life,  new  methods  of  Christian 
work,  new  manifestations  of  spiritual  power,  new 
growths  of  Christian  influence.  The  development 
of  new  modes  in  organization,  doctrine  and  life  is 
not  something  that  may  come,  but  something  that 
must  come,  if  Christianity  does  its  work.  It  is  not 
an  evil,  but  a  good,  that  this  work  must  go  on: 
Christianity  has  been  richer  for  such  experiences 
in  the  past,  and  will  be  richer  for  them  in  the 
future.  If  we  do  not  gladly  expect  such  develop- 
ments and  transformations,  we  do  not  yet  put  the 
full  estimate  upon  the  gospel  that  we  are  giving 
to  the  world.  If  we  dread  them,  we  have  not  yet 
learned  to  trust  the  divinity  of  that  gospel.  It  is 
very  true  that  in  every  one  of  the  Christian  denomi- 
nations —  in  one  as  much  as  in  another  —  this  pre- 
diction of  the  coming  change  may  be  resented,  as 
foretelling  the  overturn  of  something  without  which 
Christianity  would  not  be  itseK.  But  God  will  be 
better  than  our  fears,  and  will  bring  his  children  for- 
ward. Indeed,  why  do  we  bring  the  Christian  mes- 
sage to  peoples  who  have  not  known  it,  if  we  do  not 
wish  it  to  bring  forth  for  them  its  full  fruit  of 
independent  Christian  life? 


166         A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  mSSIONS 

The  destined  changes  in  the  mission-field  will 
come  of  themselves:  they  should  be  expected  and 
encouraged  in  their  time,  but  they  need  not  be 
hastened.  The  best  promotive  of  them  is  the  living 
and  powerful  Christianity  itself.  They  will  come 
with  varying  rapidity  in  different  regions.  It  might 
be  a  natural  first  thought  that  uncultured  tribes 
would  be  slow  in  bringing  forth  new  things  under 
Christian  influence,  since  they  have  little  originality 
developed.  Yet  uncultured  tribes  may  be  bright  in 
native  gifts,  they  have  little  to  give  up  before  the 
new  force  can  work  upon  them,  and  it  may  be  that 
they  will  prove  leaders  in  the  development  that  is  to 
come.  China,  in  which  interruptions  in  mission- 
work  will  be  but  temporary,  seems  likely  to  be  a 
late  contributor  to  the  Christian  life  of  the  future, 
for  it  is  very  great,  very  conservative  and  very  un- 
original. India  seems  likely  to  be  earlier,  for  India 
thinks  more  than  China.  In  Japan  there  begin 
already  to  appear  suggestions  of  a  national  Christian 
thought.  Doubtless  it  is  thus  far  crude  and  un- 
formed, and  the  Japanese  mind  will  have  to  go 
through  much  more  experience  before  it  can  become 
truly  a  national  Christian  mind,  even  in  a  rudimen- 
tary way.  But  the  movement  of  life  has  begun,  out 
of  which   there  will  some  day   emerge   a  Japanese 


DENOMINATIONS  IN  MISSIONS  167 

Christian  force,  not  quite  like  anything  that  has 
been  in  the  world  before.  Even  in  Africa  there  will 
yet  be  such  a  development.  If  we  help  to  make 
Christians  of  the  people  we  help  to  hasten  it  on. 
Any  day  and  anywhere  in  mission-fields  this  process 
may  appear,  —  here  a  little  and  there  a  little,  but 
ever  increasing  in  force,  variety  and  suggestiveness ; 
and  God  will  be  in  it. 

The  certainty  of  such  changes  brings  its  serious 
difficulties;  for  the  independence  of  the  new  com- 
munities must  not  be  prevented  in  its  time,  and  yet 
its  coming  must  needs  be  watched  with  the  jealousy 
of  a  worthy  love.  Missions  need  to  be  conducted  in 
loyal  remembrance  of  the  principle  that 

"  The  old  order  changeth,  giving  place  to  new, 
And  God  fulfills  himself  in  many  ways." 
What  now  is  cannot  always  continue.  Here  again 
we  reach  from  another  side  the  statement  that  was 
made  before,  that  missions  are  not  permanent  but 
temporary.  Missions  do  not  seek  to  perpetuate 
themselves  :  they  introduce  the  divine  creative 
agency  in  the  knowledge  of  Christ,  and  encourage 
the  full  working  of  that  transforming  power.  It 
will  one  day  be  our  privilege  to  leave  the  field  to 
itself,  with  the  Lord.  But  before  that  day  comes 
there  will  be  severe  tests  of  our  faith  in  the  present 


168         A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

God.  When  out  of  the  sincere  church  of  Japan  the 
forms  of  Japanese  Christian  thought  begin  to  ap- 
pear, it  may  be  easy,  and  perhaps  instinctive,  for 
western  Christendom  to  condemn  it  all  as  no  Chris- 
tianity whatever,  but  a  dangerous  innovation.  Even 
the  missionaries  may  feel  so  about  it.  We  may  for- 
get that  God  will  have  a  Japanese  people  who  will 
not  be  just  like  us,  and  fail  to  recognize  them  when 
they  come  into  existence.  The  missionary  interest 
may  not  venture  to  allow  Japan  to  be  itself  and 
develop  in  Christianity  according  to  its  own  gifts, 
but  may  insist  that  it  be  scarcely  anything  else  than 
a  new  America  or  England  in  its  Christian  thought 
and  life.  That  would  be  unspeakably  sad.  It 
would  be  a  pity  indeed  if  the  very  missions  that 
have  given  the  awakening  gospel  to  the  nations 
should  ever  become  an  enemy  to  the  progress  that 
they  have  inaugurated,  through  inability  to  discern 
the  present  Spirit  and  trust  Christianity  as  a  con- 
structive force.  It  would  then  be  necessary  that  the 
missionary  influence  be  thrown  off  as  an  outgrown 
thing,  a  blessing  that  had  become  an  incubus,  before 
Christianity  could  do  its  full  work.  It  should  be 
our  prayer  that  this  may  never  come  to  pass.  It 
will  be  the  office  of  missionaries,  as  the  time  draws 
on,  to  help  the  awakened  mind  to  do  its  new  work 


DENOMINATIONS  IN  MISSIONS  169 

safely  in  Christian  liberty  and  power,  and  take  its 
place  among  the  agencies  of  God  in  the  world. 

Here  is  apparent  the  delicate  responsibility  of  the 
missionaries'  position  as  the  people  of  their  charge 
grow  toward  maturity.  With  what  tender  and 
jealous  care  must  a  Christian  missionary  watch  his 
children,  leading  them  forward  as  fast  as  they  ought 
to  go,  and  yet  guarding  them  against  a  premature 
and  childish  independence ;  unwilling  to  let  them  run 
into  error,  and  yet  equally  unwilling  to  keep  them 
an  hour  too  long  in  the  tutelage  that  was  necessary 
at  first!  His  aim  and  prayer  is  that  when  they  do 
stand  alone  they  may  be  safe.  There  is  many  a 
missionary  who  already  feels  the  problem  pressing, 
and  is  faithfully  doing  his  best  with  it.  The  prob- 
lem is  sure  to  come  sooner  or  later,  in  all  mission 
fields,  and  it  will  call  for  such  wisdom  and  patience 
as  God  alone  can  give. 


VIII 
THE  PRESENT  CRISIS  IN  MISSIONS 

For  some  time  it  has  been  evident  that  the  work  of 
Christian  missions  was  in  a  crisis  of  its  own.  Signs 
of  pause  have  been  apparent.  The  leading  mission- 
ary societies  have  found  themselves  unusually  bur- 
dened with  debt,  which  seemed  only  too  ready  to 
return  if  by  some  special  effort  it  was  removed. 
Hard  questions  have  been  abroad.  Criticism  upon 
missions  has  been  rife.  The  administration  of 
missions  has  been  criticised  without  reserve  and 
sometimes  in  a  spirit  none  too  friendly,  and  the  idea 
of  missions  itself  has  been  called  in  question,  even 
among  the  supporters  of  the  work.  The  friends  of 
the  enterprise  have  encountered  a  sense  of  pause, 
and  a  feeling  of  partial  uncertainty  as  to  the  future. 
To  some  readers  this  may  seem  too  strong  a  state- 
ment of  the  actual  case  3  but  no  one  will  question 
that  there  have  been  signs  of  weakening  in  the  mis- 
sionary impulse  of  the  church,  and  of  uncertainty  as 
to  the  wisest  policy  for  years  to  come.  The  mission- 
ary impulse  is  not  dead,  nor  is  the  force  extinct,  nor 


THE  PRESENT   CRISIS  IN  MISSIONS         171 

is  the  work  in  prospect  of  being  abandoned;  and 
yet  the  Christian  people  are  not  rising  to  the  work 
with  the  vigor  that  is  justified  by  past  successes  or 
required  by  present  opportunities.  Something  has 
happened,  to  chill  the  ardor.  There  are  men  ready 
for  the  work,  but  money  to  send  them  and  support 
them  is  wanting,  —  a  fact  that  indicates  that  the 
trouble  is  with  the  rank  and  file  of  the  people,  rather 
than  with  the  more  intelligent  and  spiritual  minds. 
The  crisis  is  such  that  no  adequate  provision  is  being 
made  by  missionary  societies  for  the  work  of  coming 
years.  No  society  is  able  to  deal  rightly  with  its 
opportunities:  in  fact,  retrenchment  has  in  some 
cases  actually  diminished  the  work,  which  ought  to 
have  been  increasing.  The  crisis  has  been  faithfully 
reported  to  the  Christian  people  at  home,  but  as  a 
whole  they  have  not  been  sensibly  influenced  by  the 
knowledge  of  it.  The  societies  are  wondering  what 
is  to  be  possible  to  them  hereafter,  and  are  justifi- 
ably timid  about  undertaking  what  is  required  by 
unquestionable  duty. 

Such  a  condition  has  its  causes,  and  they  ought 
to  be  considered.  Doubtless  they  are  numerous.  It 
is  not  likely  that  any  one  cause  is  responsible  for  it 
all,  or  probable  that  the  situation  will  be  found  to 
be  a  very  simple  one.     A   movement  so  great  and 


172         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

so  strongly  impelled  by  motive  as  the  missionary 
movement  cannot  thus  receive  even  a  partial  check 
without  the  operation  of  large  forces,  and  of  forces 
that  are  likely  to  prove  somewhat  lasting.  In  the 
present  case  it  is  easy  to  read  some  of  the  causes, 
and  a  clear  view  of  them  is  necessary  if  we  wish  to 
see  our  way  to  doing  the  duty  of  the  hour. 

Probably  reaction  from  the  early  expectation  of 
swift  success  must  be  reckoned  with  as  one  of  the 
causes  of  the  crisis.  At  the  beginning,  Christians 
had  but  a  very  faint  idea  of  what  they  were  under- 
taking when  they  set  out  to  make  disciples  of  all 
the  nations.  They  could  not  know  what  it  would 
mean,  for  experience  alone  could  reveal  it.  Hence 
the  early  expectations  were  unintelligent,  and  far 
too  sanguine.  The  solid  difficulties  involved  in  the 
■  nature  of  the  case  had  not  yet  been  discovered. 
There  was  a  romantic  period  in  the  history  of  for- 
eign missions,  in  which  swifter  victory  was  expected 
than  the  nature  of  the  case  allows.  It  was  really 
expected  that  vast  masses  of  organized  humanity 
would  slide  easily  and  without  resistance  into  the 
kingdom  of  God,  so  that  a  nation  would  be  born  in 
a  day,  and  born  into  satisfactory  Christian  life.  Khe- 
torical  talk  about  planting  shining  crosses  on  every 


THE  PRESENT   CRISIS   IN  MISSIONS        173 

hilltop  was  almost  taken  seriously.  A  warm  en- 
thusiasm was  relied  upon  not  only  to  do  its  own 
indispensable  work,  but  to  do  a  great  deal  of  work 
besides.  All  victories  and  gains  were  watched,  to 
see  if  the  complete  triumph  of  the  gospel  was  not 
coming  directly  after  them. 

Such  a  period  of  romantic  feeling  had  to  come, 
and  it  had  its  noble  quality,  but  it  had  to  pass.  It 
is  passing,  and  its  departure  brings  a  certain  degree 
of  reaction.  The  magnitude  of  the  enterprise  is 
beginning  to  make  itself  influential,  both  upon  the 
judgment  and  upon  the  feeling  of  those  who  are  con- 
cerned. The  length  of  processes  is  beginning  to  be 
impressive:  a  generation  or  two  of  work  is  enough 
to  make  it  so.  It  is  both  seen  and  felt  that  there  is 
no  probability  of  any  nation  being  born  in  a  day 
into  a  satisfactory  Christian  life,  or  indeed  into  any 
Christian  life  at  all ;  and  then,  on  looking  back  for 
the  authority  for  the  hope,  it  is  observed  that  the 
supposed  promise  in  the  Scriptures  of  such  a  quick 
national  birth  was  really  no  promise  whatever.  The 
more  prosaic  thinking  of  the  later  time  is  far  truer 
and  more  trustworthy  than  the  romantic  thinking 
of  earlier  days,  and  in  the  long  view  of  things  its 
coming  is  a  most  encouraging  sign,  for  which  we 
must  give  thanks  to  God  who  is  leading  us ;  but  for 


174         A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

the  time  its  coming  brings  a  sense  of  pause.  The 
rush  is  over,  and  the  steady  pull  begins.  It  surely 
will  begin,  or  rather  is  beginning,  and  will  be  kept 
up ;  but  it  is  not  surprising  that  for  the  moment  there 
is  a  reaction  of  feeling,  with  sense  of  discouragement. 

This  change  of  feeling  has  been  wrought  by  means 
of  a  great  fact  that  has  wider  significance  and  teaches 
further  lessons,  —  namely,  the  new  knowledge  of  the 
world.  How  influential  this  new  knowledge  is,  and 
how  radically  it  works,  it  is  hard  for  us  to  imagine. 
The  world  is  conceived  to-day  by  the  ordinary  Chris- 
tian mind  as  it  could  not  possibly  be  conceived  by 
any  one  a  century  ago.  It  is  viewed  now  with  eyes 
far  more  intelligent,  and  at  the  same  time  far  more 
business-like.  To  the  ordinary  mind  much  less  than 
a  century  ago,  Japan  was  only  a  name,  China  was  an 
unopened  mystery,  and  the  mention  even  of  India 
appealed  far  more  to  the  sense  of  wonder  than  to 
any  intelligent  thought.  The  darkness  of  ignorance 
colored  only  by  a  glamour  of  strangeness  hung  over 
distant  lands,  and  missionary  work  in  them  could 
not  possibly  be  planned  with  any  due  knowledge  of 
the  conditions  and  the  need.  But  at  the  present  day 
travel  and  trade  have  brought  the  lands  near  to  one 
another.     Communication  is  perpetual.     There  is  no 


THE  PRESENT   CRISIS  IN  MISSIONS        175 

country  concerning  which  reasonably  trustworthy 
information  cannot  be  obtained  in  abundance.  Trav- 
ellers observe  as  they  did  not  know  how  to  observe 
a  century  ago,  and  report  their  results  in  popular 
form,  to  a  public  that  has  learned  to  care  for  informa- 
tion. Political  relations,  too,  impart  the  keenest  in- 
terest to  lands  once  unreal  to  us.  International 
relations  have  grown  up.  A  moment  has  come  when 
the  great  national  powers  are  eager  to  grasp  the  out- 
lying parts  of  the  earth,  and  great  movements  of 
diplomacy  and  of  war  are  concerned  with  those  re- 
gions in  which  our  missionary  interest  is  centred. 
A  zeal  for  developing  trade  with  far-off  peoples  has 
suddenly  sprung  up,  and  there  is  no  American  city 
that  has  not  a  financial  interest  in  the  relations  that 
our  country  sustains  to  missionary  lands.  With 
facilities  of  travel  and  the  growing  practice  of  travel- 
ling, remoteness  is  a  lost  fact ;  and  the  unspeakable 
wonder  of  telegraphic  communication  completes  the 
change. 

The  consequence  of  all  this  is  that  to  maintain  the 
way  of  thinking  about  the  world  that  was  prevalent, 
and  was  the  only  possible  way  of  thinking,  when 
modern  missions  began,  has  passed  out  of  the  realm 
of  possibility.  To  think  of  the  United  States  of 
America  to-day  is  to  think  a  thought  that  was  im- 


176         A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

possible  a  hundred  years  ago.  The  same  is  true,  of 
course,  of  our  thinking  about  China,  or  Japan,  or 
Hawaii.  To  think  of  mankind,  or  of  the  world  for 
which  Christ  died,  is  to  entertain  a  thought  that  is 
very  largely  new.  In  great  measure  the  world  it- 
self is  new,  as  the  instance  of  the  United  States  is 
sufficient  to  show ;  and  in  great  measure  our  knowl- 
edge of  the  world  has  changed.  No  one  until  now 
could  possibly  have  in  mind  what  we  have  in  mind 
when  we  speak  of  man.  And  the  difference  between 
our  conception  of  man  and  that  of  a  century  ago 
is  not  mainly  that  something  true  has  fallen  out 
of  it,  though  that  may  be  the  fact  with  many  minds  : 
it  is  rather  that  immeasurably  much  that  is  true 
has  been  added  to  it.  Unquestionably  our  concep- 
tion of  man  is  still  incomplete,  unbalanced,  and 
incorrect,  but  it  certainly  has  been  altered  within 
the  century  by  the  addition  of  much  that  must 
remain  in  any  true  conception.  Our  knowledge 
has  experienced  true  and  legitimate  growth,  and 
from  our  present  conception  of  the  human  world 
we  can  never  go  back  to  that  which  our  fathers 
held  when  they  began  the  work  of  modem  missions. 

The  consequence  of  this  change  as  it  affects  mis- 
sions is  plain  enough.     Our  fathers  knew  definitely 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIS   IN   MISSIONS        177 

but  little  about  the  human  race  and  the  conditions  of 
life  in  various  lands;  but  their  minds  and  their 
hearts  took  hold  upon  mankind  through  its  whole 
extent  as  a  sinful  and  needy  mass,  to  be  saved 
through  faith  in  Jesus  Christ,  who  as  yet  was  un- 
known to  the  greater  part.  Their  children  have 
added  much  knowledge  of  the  lands  and  their  life, 
and  have  come  to  think  of  the  peoples  of  the  world, 
as  the  fathers  could  not,  in  terms  of  travel,  politics, 
and  commerce.  Some  of  them  retain  the  fathers' 
feeling  about  the  need  of  faith  in  Christ  for  salvation, 
and  some  are  earnest  in  convictions  concerning  the 
missionary  enterprise ;  but  some  have  lost  their 
fathers'  feeling  about  this,  in  the  multitude  of  other 
thoughts  and  under  the  pressure  of  new  relations.  To 
hold  the  idea  that  suggested  missions,  as  our  ex- 
clusive thought  about  the  peoples  of  the  world,  is 
now  absolutely  impossible  ;  no  warmest  friend  of 
missions  does  it  or  can  do  it,  for  other  thoughts  be- 
long to  our  necessary  mental  furniture.  To  hold  it 
at  all  may  require  a  mental  effort.  Is  any  one  to  be 
blamed  for  the  change  ?  Certainly  not,  for  it  has 
come  in  the  course  of  the  normal  movements  of  hu- 
manity, and  on  the  whole  it  is  a  good  change.  Our 
thought  concerning  our  fellow-men  contains  elements 
of  truth  and  justice  that  our  fathers  knew  nothing  of. 

12 


178         A   STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

The  best  Christian  feeling  toward  the  heathen  world 
to-day  is  far  more  true,  righteous,  sympathetic.  Christ- 
like, than  the  feeling  of  the  Christians  who  were  in- 
terested in  missions  a  hundred  years  ago.  But  the 
single  motive  which,  standing  alone,  led  to  the  mis- 
sionary enterprise,  has  come  to  be  so  surrounded  by 
other  thoughts  and  motives  as  to  lose  its  relative 
force,  and  be  less  available  than  it  then  was  as  a  con- 
trolling influence.  This  is  one  great  and  significant 
cause  of  the  present  crisis  in  missions.  Knowledge 
of  the  world,  swiftly  increasing,  has  grown  away 
from  adjustment  to  the  missionary  motive  in  its 
earlier  form,  and  there  is  need  of  a  new  grouping  of 
facts  and  thoughts  together,  if  the  motive  is  to 
regain  its  power. 

It  should  be  added  that  the  modern  intercommuni- 
cation of  peoples,  while  in  the  large  it  has  ministered 
to  this  general  change,  has  brought  forth  some  special 
results  that  are  unfavorable  to  missionary  interest 
and  success.  In  two  ways  this  has  been  done.  On 
the  one  hand,  the  defects  of  Christendom  have  freely 
and  unsparingly  advertised  themselves  in  foreign 
parts.  The  governments  of  the  so-called  Christian 
nations  have  appeared  exactly  as  they  were,  with 
their  combination  of  justice  and  injustice,  of  civil- 
zation    and    barbarism,   of    helpfulness    and    greed. 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIS  IN  MISSIONS        179 

Sometimes  their  influence  has  been  favorable  to 
Christianity,  but  too  often  it  has  offered  a  most 
unhelpful  commentary  on  the  character  of  the  re- 
ligion that  missionaries  were  seeking  to  commend. 
Worst  of  all  is  the  hypocrisy  with  which  nations 
allege  Christian  motives  in  justification  of  their 
land-grabbing,  oppression,  and  unrighteous  wars. 
No  anti-Christian  influence  in  the  orient  is  more 
direct  than  this,  or  more  deadly.  At  the  same 
time  the  modern  habits  of  trade  and  travel  have 
placed  upon  oriental  shores,  especially  in  the  chief 
ports,  a  great  mass  of  men  from  Christendom,  whose 
conduct  is  anything  but  honorable  to  the  Christian 
name.  With  perfect  justice  Christianity  can  dis- 
own them  as  no  fruit  of  its  work,  but  it  cannot  be 
expected  that  orientals  will  make  distinctions  in 
such  a  case,  and  the  influence  of  such  men  stands 
as  a  visible  argument  against  the  Christian  faith. 
And  on  the  other  hand,  the  practice  of  travel  has 
sent  home  numbers  of  journeying  Americans  who 
have  seen  no  missions  when  abroad,  not  having 
looked  for  them,  and  who  report  the  unfriendly 
gossip  of  the  society  in  which  they  have  mingled, 
bearing  the  testimony  of  ignorance  and  prejudice 
against  missionaries  and  their  work.  These,  having 
travelled,   speak  with  all  the  authority  of   experts 


180         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

about  the  oriental  world,  and  there  are  many  people 
at  home  who  suppose  their  contempt  for  missions  to 
be  the  result  of  intelligent  investigation.  With  the 
proverbial  swiftness  of  what  is  false,  such  testimony 
can  scarcely  be  overtaken  by  the  reports  of  the  trav- 
ellers who  have  sought  missions  out  and  looked  upon 
their  work,  and  bring  home  a  different  story.  Hence 
there  comes  a  depressing  influence  from  travel,  which 
is  only  too  effective.  So  it  comes  to  pass  that  the 
practice  of  intercommunication  has  incidentally 
helped  to  make  the  missionary  work  more  difficult 
abroad,  and  has  brought  home  unfriendly  reports  to 
discourage  it  here. 

The  crisis  is  not  wholly  brought  over  from  the 
foreign  field,  or  caused  by  views  that  we  take  of  it. 
There  are  causes  at  home  that  make  their  contri- 
bution. The  new  modes  of  knowing  and  thinking 
that  are  characteristic  of  our  time  inevitably  have 
their  influence  upon  the  general  missionary  feeling. 

It  is  a  plain  fact  that  in  all  external  aspects,  and 
in  many  aspects  that  are  not  external,  the  life  that 
we  are  living  is  radically  unlike  the  life  that  our 
fathers  lived.  Our  life  is  in  the  sharpest  contrast 
with  theirs  in  respect  of  physical  surroundings,  of 
common   conveniences,    and   of   mental  suggestions. 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIS  IN   MISSIONS        181 

We  are  hourly  doing  what  to  them  would  have 
seemed  almost  miraculous,  and  we  do  it  with  scarcely 
a  thought  that  it  is  wonderful.  Even  from  this 
source,  there  has  come  to  us  a  change  in  the  soil  from 
which  the  missionary  motives  grow.  Not  only  do 
we  look  out  upon  a  different  world  from  that  of  our 
fathers :  we  look  out  from  a  different  world  also,  in 
which  suggestions  come  from  new  quarters  and  our 
moral  impulses  rise  under  new  influences.  New 
formative  powers  are  upon  us  on  every  side,  and  it 
is  impossible  that  our  movements,  whether  intellect- 
ual or  moral,  should  be  exactly  what  those  of  our 
fathers  were.  If  we  retain  ideas  that  were  powerful 
with  them,  we  retain  them  amid  new  surroundings, 
and  they  cannot  be  precisely  the  same.  By  the  in- 
fluence of  new  social  forms,  of  new  industrial  con- 
ditions, of  multiplied  conveniences,  of  a  more  rapid 
age,  our  judgments  are  insensibly  affected.  Old 
motives  are  not  just  what  they  were,  and  new  adjust- 
ments in  mind  are  rendered  indispensable  if  our  old 
works  are  to  go  on  efficiently.  There  is  no  escape 
from  this  state  of  things,  and  it  would  be  most  unwise 
to  overlook  it. 

With  all  the  rest,  there  has  come  in  with  power  a 
new  set  of  ideas.  In  spite  of  all  the  visible  revolu- 
tions, the  deepest  changes  have  not  been  wrought  in 


182         A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

the  realm  of  visible  things :  more  significant  revolu- 
tions have  occurred  in  the  region  of  dominant 
thoughts.  We  are  thinking  in  new  mental  surround- 
ings, and  seeing  in  new  light.  Science  has  immeas- 
urably extended  our  knowledge  of  things  that  are, 
and  discovery  has  brought  new  determining  facts  to 
our  possession.  There  has  come  in,  for  the  use  of  us 
all,  a  method  of  learning  what  is  true,  which  is  in 
great  degree  a  new  method.  We  call  it  the  scientific 
method.  The  amount  of  it  is,  in  a  word,  that  we  do 
not  know  anything  that  we  have  not  learned.  Facts 
are  decisive  of  judgments.  Whether  anything  is 
true  depends  on  evidence,  and  we  have  no  right  to 
say  or  assume  that  something  is  true,  in  advance  of 
the  examination  that  will  prove  or  disprove  it.  This 
test  of  things  was  not  unknown  a  century  ago,  of 
course,  but  within  the  century  it  has  come  to  be 
recognized  and  accepted  far  more  fully  than  ever 
before,  and  applied  to  knowledge  of  every  kind.  It 
is  a  sound  principle,  and  a  searching  one,  and  it  can- 
not be  disowned.  Very  naturally  the  acceptance  of 
this  test  has  great  influence  upon  the  popular  feeling 
with  regard  to  missions.  If  the  influence  is  silent 
and  often  unnoticed,  it  is  not  less  real  on  that  ac- 
count. When  we  accepted  the  missionary  work  that 
our  fathers  bequeathed  to  us,  we  assumed  that  we 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIS  IN  MISSIONS        183 

knew  what  was  the  state  of  the  distant  nations,  and 
adopted  a  course  of  conduct  toward  them  in  accord- 
ance with  our  assumption.  But  now  it  appears  that 
our  fathers  knew  little  about  them,  and  only  to-day 
are  we  beginning  to  be  really  acquainted  with  them, 
so  as  to  be  able  to  judge  rightly  of  their  moral  state. 
Were  we  right?  Perhaps  we  were  not  justified  in 
acting  toward  them  as  our  fathers  began  to  act 
before  the  dawn  of  that  acquaintance  which  alone 
can  show  us  how  we  ought  to  treat  them.  When 
we  understand  them  better  shall  we  send  missions 
to  them?  we  are  asked.  Even  knowing  them  as 
well  as  we  know  them  now,  are  we  quite  sure  that 
what  we  are  actually  offering  them  through  the 
missions  that  we  send  is  what  they  need  and  what 
we  ought  to  offer?  If  we  ought  to  give  them  mis- 
sions, are  we  giving  them  the  right  missions?  In 
whatever  way  these  questions  are  destined  to  be 
answered,  they  are  certain  to  be  asked,  and  cannot 
be  repelled.  They  are  asked,  far  and  wide,  and  the 
fact  of  their  presence  is  one  of  the  elements  in  the 
making  of  the  missionary  crisis. 

It  is  often  said,  and  said  truly,  that  the  great 
determinative  idea  that  has  entered  the  world  in 
our  time  is  the  idea  of  evolution.     It  certainly  has 


184         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

entered,  and  a  determinative  idea  it  certainly  is,  — 
an  idea  that  determines  the  attitude  of  one  whom 
it  influences,  with  regard  to  the  entire  range  of 
thought  and  knowledge.  The  influence  of  the  idea 
is  far  from  being  limited  to  the  circle  in  which  the 
doctrine  of  evolution  has  been  formally  or  even 
consciously  accepted.  Many  persons  think  they  are 
uninfluenced  by  the  doctrine  because  they  doubt 
it,  or  even  reject  it,  or  because  it  lies  in  a  region 
of  thought  in  which  they  are  not  qualified  to  pass 
judgment.  But  such  limitations  upon  influence  do 
not  hold.  The  idea  of  evolution  has  power  with 
our  generation,  whether  the  doctrine  is  approved  or 
disapproved.  It  affects  all  sorts  and  conditions  of 
intelligent  men,  and  the  unintelligent  do  not  escape 
it.  The  influence  of  it  appears  in  many  forms,  and 
it  finds  various  doors  of  entrance  to  the  field  of 
missionary  interest.  For  one  thing,  it  leads  to  a 
very  important  modification  of  our  feeling  about  the 
length  of  processes ;  and  by  this  means  it  affects 
our  feeling  about  missions. 

Under  the  influence  of  the  idea  of  evolution,  we 
come  to  regard  one  thing  as  growing  out  of  another, 
and  to  look  upon  anything  that  now  exists  as  the 
outgrowth  of  previous  existence  and  conditions. 
This  in  fact  is  the  pith  of  the  doctrine;  and  it  is 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIS  IN  MISSIONS         185 

through  the  introduction  of  this  habit  of  looking  at 
things  that  the  idea  of  evolution  is  exercising  so  wide 
and  deep  a  popular  influence.  When  in  our  own 
time  we  are  reminded  of  missions,  we  are  reminded 
also  that  we  are  to  regard  man,  in  the  light  of  good 
evidence,  as  having  been  on  the  earth  much  longer 
than  we  supposed,  and  that  we  must  think  of  his 
institutions  throughout  the  world  as  the  result  of  an 
age-long  growth.  Then  it  begins  to  be  asked  how 
long  these  religions  that  we  think  of  displacing  have 
been  in  growing  up  to  their  present  condition  ;  how 
long  a  time  it  has  taken  them  to  reach  their  present 
development  and  get  their  present  hold  upon  the 
peoples  that  are  attached  to  them ;  how  firm  their 
hold  will  therefore  probably  be  found  to  be,  and  how 
long  it  will  take  to  introduce  a  new  faith  in  place  of 
them.  We  need  not  be  surprised  if  we  are  told  that 
the  established  condition  of  life  in  China  is  the 
result,  at  a  very  moderate  estimate,  of  twenty  thou- 
sand years  of  continuous  resident  life  in  that  country. 
Then  we  shall  be  told  that  it  is  a  far  greater  under- 
taking than  our  fathers  thought  to  overthrow  so 
ancient  an  order,  to  detach  men's  minds  from  a  sys- 
tem that  is  so  thoroughly  their  own,  and  to  introduce 
a  religion  possessed  of  qualities  which  the  Chinese 
thought  of  so  many  ages  has  not  known.     We  need 


186         A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

not  be  surprised  if  some  who  encounter  this  view  of 
the  undertaking  draw  back  with  a  sense  of  the  hope- 
lessness of  such  an  enterprise ;  and  we  certainly  have 
to  expect  that  all  who  encounter  this  view  will  be 
impressed  by  an  unsuspected  greatness  and  audacity 
in  the  missionary  enterprise,  and  feel  that  the  work 
is  a  longer  and  harder  one  than  they  had  thought. 

It  should  be  added  that  this  testimony  of  the 
doctrine  of  evolution  is  in  perfect  accord  with  the 
testimony  of  missionary  experience.  Missionaries 
are  impressed  by  the  antiquity  of  the  religions,  and 
the  vast  power  that  antiquity  imparts.  It  is  sur- 
passed only  by  what  some  one  has  called  "  the  fatal 
antiquity  of  human  nature."  Man  is  no  beginner. 
He  has  certainl}^  had  time  to  become  thoroughly 
confirmed  in  his  ways,  and  our  attempts  to  trans- 
form him  have  to  take  him  as  he  is,  after  the  course 
of  unmeasured  ages.  All  thorough  and  faithful  mis- 
sionary work  agrees  in  testifying  to  the  depth  and 
strength  of  human  evil,  and  the  length  and  difficulty 
of  the  work  of  winning  the  Christian  victory. 

It  is  well  if  another  aspect  of  modern  thought  does 
not  prove  influential.  At  a  certain  stage  of  evolu- 
tionary thought  the  whole  system  is  apt  to  take  on 
a  fatalistic  tone.  The  stage  passes,  but  first  it 
comes.     That  has  grown,  we  are  told,  which  had  to 


THE   PRESENT   CRISIS  IN  MISSIONS        187 

grow.  All  was  inevitable,  and  therefore  best.  Out 
of  the  soil  of  humanity  came  forth  that  which  human- 
ity could  produce,  and  that  which  humanity  ought 
to  have.  If  the  Chinese  character  brought  forth 
Confucianism,  Confucianism  is  what  the  Chinese 
character  requires.  If  India  was  the  native  home 
of  Hinduism,  Hinduism  is  the  best  thing  for  India. 
Nations  that  will  accept  Buddhism  ought  to  have 
it ;  races  that  Islam  suits  should  be  left  with  Islam. 
If  certain  parts  of  mankind  find  Christianity  better 
for  them  than  other  faiths,  let  them  have  it  and 
prize  it,  but  let  them  respect  the  evolution  which 
has  not  only  given  it  to  them,  but  supplied  other 
peoples  with  other  religions.  This  is  one  of  the 
views  that  have  been  suggested  by  the  evolutionary 
doctrine,  and  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  as  an 
underlying  thought  this  idea  has  had  its  influence 
upon  the  modern  Christian  world,  to  the  weaken- 
ing of  the  missionary  impulse.  The  Christian  teach- 
ing must  ultimately  banish  this  fatalistic  thought, 
but  meanwhile  it  is  here  to  wield  its  influence.  • 

At  the  same  time,  under  the  influences  of  the  new 
age,  the  church  of  Christ  is  itself  undergoing  a  trans- 
formation of  which  it  is  but  slightly  aware.  It  is 
aware  of  change,  but  not  of  its  full  greatness  and 


188         A  STUDY   OF  CHRISTIAN   MISSIONS 

significance.  The  Christian  world,  as  we  are  wont 
to  call  it,  is  nothing  else  than  a  part  of  mankind, 
and  is  subject  to  the  influences  that  affect  man- 
kind. If  it  could  escape  them,  its  power  upon 
mankind  would  be  gone.  The  present  time  is  prob- 
ably the  greatest  time  of  swift  transition  and  trans- 
formation that  mankind  has  ever  entered  upon ;  and 
the  Christian  part  of  humanity  is  placed  where  the 
process  is  sharpest  and  the  change  is  most  profound. 
Hence  it  is  entirely  impossible  for  the  Christian 
world  to  remain  unaltered  through  the  present  time, 
or  to  keep  unchanged  the  mental  and  spiritual  pos- 
sessions with  which  it  entered  the  period  of  transi- 
tion. Whether  changes  are  welcome  or  not  does  not 
matter,  —  they  come,  and  they  must  come.  It  would 
seem  probable  beforehand  that  some  of  them  would 
be  for  the  better  and  some  for  the  worse ;  but  they 
are  bound  to  occur,  and  God's  providential  way  of 
progress  leads  through  them,  to  what  may  be  beyond. 
In  accordance  with  this  all-surrounding  fact  of 
the  age,  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  that  the  spirit- 
ual life  and  activity  of  the  Christian  people  arc 
passing  in  great  measure  from  old  forms  to  new. 
Methods  of  religious  influence  that  were  effective 
when  dominant  ideas  in  common  life  were  different, 
are  not  working  now  with  their  former  power.    What 


THE  PRESENT   CRISIS  IN  MISSIONS        189 

was  strong  with  previous  generations  is  comparatively 
weak  with  the  present  race.  Old  appeals  do  not 
take  hold  of  men  as  once  they  did.  Of  course  the 
change  is  not  instantaneous,  or  complete  at  once ; 
and,  according  to  a  gracious  law  of  nature,  things 
that  are  old  and  familiar  have  a  power  that  they 
do  not  quickly  lose,  and  a  power  that  now  and 
again  asserts  itself,  to  the  surprise  of  innovators. 
Yet  we  cannot  observe  the  facts  of  every  day  with- 
out noticing  that  Christian  life  is  passing  largely 
out  of  its  old  forms  and  moving  on  to  new.  What 
the  new  forms  are  destined  to  be  is  not  so  plain  as 
that  the  old  no  longer  possess  their  ancient  power ; 
and  consequently  there  is  frequent  fear  among  faith- 
ful souls  that  all  is  going,  power  as  well  as  forms. 
It  is  unbelief  to  think  so,  indeed,  for  God  lives,  and 
Christianity  has  a  vitality  that  cannot  die,  and  new 
spiritual  forms  as  good  as  the  old  will  surely  come. 
It  is  transition,  not  ruin,  that  is  befalling  the  Chris- 
tian faith,  —  but  there  is  transition.  Old  organiza- 
tion is  not  trusted  as  it  used  to  be,  old  motives  are 
modified  by  the  appeal  of  new  facts,  old  doctrines 
are  seeking  to  find  their  right  place  amid  newly 
found  realities.  Now  we  know  that  a  time  of  trans- 
ition is  never  a  time  of  conspicuous  immediate  power. 
When  the  old  has  been  weakened  and  the  new  has 


190         A   STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

not  yet  put  on  its  strength,  power  is  not  the  mark 
of  the  time.  Such  times  pass,  but  they  first  come, 
and  one  of  them  is  upon  us  now.  It  is  nothing  to 
be  wondered  at  if  in  such  a  period  of  transition  the 
missionary  impulse  has  met  a  momentary  pause. 
How  could  it  be  otherwise  ?  The  missionary  motive 
is  one  of  the  motives  that  have  come  over  from  a 
time  when  dominant  modes  of  thinking  were  differ- 
ent from  what  they  can  be  now.  It  is  a  motive, 
too,  that  received  strong  influence  from  the  domi- 
nant ideas  of  the  earlier  time.  It  is  quite  inevitable 
that  this  motive,  as  well  as  others,  should  require 
reconsideration  in  the  light  of  newly  known  facts, 
and  adjustment  to  the  elements  of  a  new  world. 

All  the  time,  of  course,  the  steady  though  change- 
ful force  of  the  worldly  mind  and  the  unspiritual 
life  in  Christian  people  has  to  be  reckoned  with  as  an 
element  in  the  missionary  problem.  This  enemy  of 
effectiveness  is  changeful  in  its  manifestations,  but 
steady  in  its  presence  and  its  energy.  It  is  always 
with  us,  this  haunting  disposition  to  act  upon  some- 
thing inferior  to  the  mind  of  Christ.  The  church 
has  never  risen  to  the  spirit  of  its  Lord,  but  has 
always  had  lingering  within  it  the  spirit  of  selfish- 
ness, of  pride,  of  self-indulgence  and  luxury,  of  un- 


THE   PRESENT   CRISIS   IN  MISSIONS        191 

brotherly  indifference  to  others'  needs,  of  spiritual 
indolence,  of  keen  interest  in  things  that  perish  with 
the  using.  The  common  sinfulness  of  man  abides, 
and  maturity  in  Christian  character  has  not  yet  been 
attained.  The  genuine  missionary  spirit  requires  deep 
fellowship  with  Christ  in  unselfishness  and  love.  All 
selfishness  is  its  enemy,  and  so  is  all  unspiritual  life. 
The  present  age,  with  its  devotion  to  pursuits  that 
belong  to  the  present  life,  and  its  vast  wealth  of 
temporal  possessions,  is  under  special  temptation 
to  that  unspiritual  and  worldly  living  which  has 
little  in  common  with  the  missionary  spirit.  In  the 
present  busy  period,  full  of  urgent  material  interests, 
this  depressing  force  is  exceedingly  powerful,  and 
the  missionary  impulse  suffers  in  consequence.  It 
is  partly  through  the  imperfection  of  the  Christian 
people,  and  partly  through  their  fault,  that  the  crisis 
in  missions  is  upon  us ;  while  yet  in  other  respects 
we  plainly  see  that  without  any  one's  fault  such  a 
crisis  was  inevitable  in  such  a  time  as  this. 

The  events  amid  which  the  nineteenth  century  is 
closing  are  to  be  counted  among  the  influences  that 
are  unfavorable  to  the  missionary  movement.  The 
moment  is  in  many  respects  a  surprising  one,  deeply 
unlike  all  that  we  desired  or  dreamed.     The  century 


192         A   STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

that  is  closing  has  been,  beyond  all  others  in  the 
history  of  mankind,  the  century  of  swiftly  growing 
world-consciousness.  The  human  race  has  been 
drawn  together.  Nations  have  had  more  and  more 
to  do  with  one  another.  Mutual  dependence  has 
increased,  and  has  been  felt  as  it  could  never  be 
felt  before.  The  sense  of  unity  has  begun  to 
appear  and  be  influential.  In  fact,  at  the  present 
hour  mankind  comes  nearer  to  being  conscious 
of  itself  than  it  has  been  at  any  other  hour  of  its 
history.  The  consciousness  is  still  very  far  from 
being  complete,  or  even  true  as  far  as  it  goes ; 
and  yet  it  exists,  in  a  depth  and  fulness  before 
unparalleled. 

There  seemed  to  be  some  promise,  a  little  while 
ago,  that  this  consciousness  might,  in  the  more  en- 
lightened parts  of  mankind,  become  a  conscience, 
and  humanity  might  pass  into  a  new  Christian  cen- 
tury in  a  somewhat  serious  mood  of  self-judgment 
and  worthy  aspiration.  It  would  have  been  a  noble 
thing,  pleasing  to  God  and  full  of  hope,  if  the 
century-point  had  brought  a  solemn  hour  of  repen- 
tance and  spiritual  uplifting  to  some  considerable 
part  of  the  human  race.  But  influences  of  another 
kind  have  been  effective,  and  the  century  is  ending 
with  humanity  in  another  mood.     It  is  an  hour  of 


THE  PRESENT  CRISIS  IN  MISSIONS        193 

passion.  The  warlike  spirit  has  been  awakened, 
racial  antagonisms  have  sprung  into  fresh  life, 
national  ambitions  have  assumed  new  force,  and 
alarming  possibilities  of  world-wide  strife  have  been 
opened  to  humanity.  Mankind  has  entered  one  of 
its  periods  of  passion  and  unrest. 

The  temper  of  mankind  to-day  concerns  us  here 
only  as  it  affects  the  missionary  work  and  its  pros- 
pects. It  needs  no  proof  that  the  spirit  of  war  is 
most  intensely  hostile  to  the  spirit  of  missions.  It  is 
the  direct  opposite  of  the  missionary  spirit,  and  can 
only  injure  it.  The  missionary  feeling  toward  the 
human  world  is  a  feeling  of  its  unity,  and  its  destiny 
to  be  delivered  by  Christ  from  strife  and  bound  fast 
in  the  bonds  of  brotherly  fellowship.  All  bitter  and 
divisive  passions  are  hostile  to  the  missionary  spirit. 
All  race-antagonisms  work  in  the  wrong  direction. 
All  alienating  influences  operate  against  this  Christ- 
like endeavor  after  a  pure  and  holy  fellowship. 
We  preach  Christ,  and  Christ  reveals  God,  and  God 
is  love.  Unity,  friendliness,  mutual  help,  brotherly 
oneness  in  heart  and  life,  these  are  the  watchwords 
of  that  Christianity  which  we  offer  to  mankind. 
Whatever  harms  love  harms  missions.  Hence  it  is 
perfectly  plain  that  the  warlike  spirit,  if  it  takes 
possession  of  a  people  and  animates  their  thought 

13 


194  A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

and  feeling,  is  distinctly  fatal  to  the  missionary  mo- 
tive. The  breaking  of  the  race  into  warring  groups, 
or  groups  pledged  to  the  spirit  and  aim  of  war,  is 
ruinous  to  the  missionary  work.  The  war-feeling 
toward  men  and  the  missionary  feeling  toward  men 
are  opposite  and  incompatible,  just  so  far  as  they 
are  active  and  strong.  And  so  we  are  compelled 
to  say  that  the  recent  awakening  of  the  warlike  spirit 
must  be  counted  among  the  influences  that  perpet- 
uate the  present  crisis  in  missions  and  threaten  to 
perpetuate  it  far  into  the  coming  century.  The 
present  atmosphere  of  the  world  is  not  inspiring  to 
missionary  zeal :  it  is  too  full  of  something  opposite. 
It  is  very  true  that  mission-fields  have  often  been 
opened  by  means  of  war,  and  that  they  may  be  again  ; 
but  it  is  equally  true  that  by  means  of  wars  mission- 
fields  may  be  closed,  and  present  possibilities  may  be 
cut  off.  But  whatever  special  results  may  be,  it  is  a 
very  simple  axiom,  which  no  one  who  knows  the 
Lord  Jesus  ought  to  doubt,  that  the  spirit  of  war  is 
contrary  to  the  spirit  of  missions.  And  just  now,  at 
the  end  of  the  century,  the  spirit  of  war  is  asserting 
itself  again,  in  nations  that  call  themselves  Chris- 
tian, and  reclaiming  the  place  which  Christ  denies 
it,  among  the  working  motives  in  the  common  life  of 
humanity. 


THE   PRESENT  CRISIS  IN  MISSIONS        195 

We  need  not  wonder  that  there  is  a  crisis  in  the 
affairs  of  missions.  The  Christian  church,  always 
imperfect  and  liable  to  the  worldly  temptations,  is  a 
part  of  humanity,  which  is  passing  through  a  period 
of  great  transition.  The  force  of  old  motives  has 
been  diminished  by  the  entrance  of  revolutionary 
ideas,  and  new  knowledge  of  the  world  has  revealed 
in  the  missionary  enterprise  an  unsuspected  vastness 
and  difficulty.  Life,  meanwhile,  is  more  exciting  and 
fascinating  than  ever,  and  to  all  the  rest  there  is 
added  an  awakening  of  the  passions  of  war.  The 
actual  difficulties  of  the  work  are  increased  in  our 
day,  while  the  impulse  to  perform  it  is  diminished. 
And  it  does  not  appear  possible  to  claim  that  the 
crisis  is  a  momentary  one,  brief  and  soon  to  pass. 
It  will  pass,  but  not  in  a  day.  Only  in  the  long 
periods  of  God  can  it  seem  a  momentary  crisis:  to 
us  men  in  our  present  condition  it  will  seem  long. 
It  will  not  wholly  pass  till  the  Christian  people  work 
their  way  through  it  to  better  ground.  The  mis- 
sionary work  is  waiting  to  be  domesticated  in  the 
new  age,  and  new  adjustments  in  Christian  thought 
and  life  must  be  established  before  the  crisis  will 
be  wholly  over.  It  is  the  part  of  common  wisdom 
to  look  these  facts  in  the  face,  and  take  account  of 
their  significance,  and  consider  what  the  next  duty  is. 


IX 

THE   NEXT  NEEDS  IN  MISSION'S 

Some  things  that  are  indispensable  in  missions  are 
always  indispensable,  and  some  of  the  needs,  there- 
fore, know  no  times  and  seasons.  In  general  terms 
we  may  state  the  abiding  and  unalterable  necessities; 
and  yet  even  these  perpetual  needs,  as  soon  as  they 
come  to  be  looked  upon  specifically  for  practical  use, 
are  found  to  vary  with  conditions,  so  as  to  be  really 
different  at  different  times.  It  is  only  when  we  are 
talking  in  the  large  that  we  can  speak  of  the  needs 
in  missions  as  unvarying.  For  the  purposes  of  actual 
life,  the  needs  of  to-day  are  never  exactly  the  same  as 
the  needs  of  yesterday. 

The  crisis  that  we  have  been  considering  brings 
its  own  suggestions  of  necessity.  There  has  come  a 
visible  pause  in  missionary  interest,  —  not  a  cessation, 
indeed,  and  yet  a  real  diminishing  of  the  impulse. 
Of  course  this  calls  us  to  stop  and  think  about  it; 
and  our  thoughts  must  go  in  both  directions.  We 
must  search  out  the  causes  of  the  change,  and  then 
we  must  inquire  what  is  the  next  thing  to  be  done 


THE  NEXT  NEEDS  IN  MISSIONS  197 

or  sought,  in  order  to  the  coming  of  better  times  for 
the  work  that  we  love.  When  we  come  to  this  latter 
inquiry,  we  shall  be  sadly  wrong  if  we  content  our- 
selves with  talking  in  general  terms  about  those  sup- 
plies of  grace  and  habits  of  godliness  which  are 
always  needed.  We  must  pass  beyond  the  familiar 
phrases.  The  present  crisis  is  sharp  and  serious, 
and  like  all  crises  it  is  special,  consisting  in  specific 
effects  from  actual  causes ;  hence  it  brings  its  special 
problems  and  demands. 

The  conditions  considered  in  the  preceding  chap- 
ter are  mainly  unprecedented,  and  the  next  needs  in 
missions  are  the  needs  that  spring  out  of  them.  Con- 
cerning these  it  is  the  urgent  duty  of  the  church  of 
to-day  to  inquire.  Our  question  is,  therefore.  What 
are  the  needs  in  missions  that  follow  from  the  pres- 
ent crisis?  It  is  not  probable  that  any  one  man's 
answer  to  this  question  will  be  complete,  or  so  true 
as  to  be  beyond  just  criticism.  Yet  there  are  some 
needs  so  central  to  the  present  missionary  problem  as 
to  force  themselves  upon  our  attention. 

1.  The  first  of  the  immediate  needs  in  missions  is 
the  re  quickening  of  faith  in  the  living  God  and 
Saviour. 

This  may  seem  to  be  one  of  those  perpetual  neces- 


198         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

sities  of  which  it  is  superfluous  to  speak  in  par- 
ticular, and  hard  to  speak  except  in  platitudes.  But 
it  is  not  so.  It  is  a  perpetual  necessity,  but  the  need 
is  specialized  just  now.  One  great  effect  of  the  con- 
ditions that  have  made  the  crisis  is  the  wide-spread 
weakening  of  direct  and  simple  confidence  in  the 
living  God  who  is  Saviour  to  mankind.  The  loss  is 
not  universal,  for  there  are  some  whose  faith  in  God 
is  clearer,  simpler,  and  more  inspiring  than  ever 
before.  But  we  cannot  conceal  from  ourselves  the 
fact  that  a  simple,  available,  instinctive,  working 
confidence  in  God  the  Saviour  is  not  as  effective  in 
the  mass  of  Christians  now  as  it  was  in  those  who 
started  the  modern  work  of  missions. 

For  this  there  are  many  reasons.  One  is  that  the 
simplicity  of  faith  and  the  directness  of  motive  have 
become  complicated  with  the  presence  of  the  great 
multitude  of  ideas  that  is  upon  us  now.  An  age  of 
so  many  thoughts  is  an  age  of  less  directness  and  sim- 
plicity. Moreover,  modern  thought  is  full  of  inquiry 
about  God.  It  seeks  for  solid  truth  and  will  have 
nothing  else,  and  hence  is  everywhere  inquiring. 
Consequently  some  familiar  thoughts  about  God 
have  been  discredited,  while  others  are  established  in 
a  new  richness  which  requires  time  and  experience 
in  order  to  be  apprehended  in  its  full  glory.     In  some 


THE  NEXT  NEEDS  IN  MISSIONS  199 

minds  the  thought  of  God  has  grown  unreal  in  old 
forms,  only  to  gain  fresh  reality  in  new.  In  some  it 
has  grown  unreal  altogether,  and  in  others  there  has 
risen  a  great  fear  lest  it  should  grow  unreal.  Since 
some  adventurous  thinkers  have  lost  their  faith  in 
part,  there  has  come  to  many  cautious  minds  the 
dread  suggestion  that  faith  can  be  lost;  wherefore 
these  have  clung  to  their  faith  in  God  with  a  grasp 
which  seems  to  them  a  grasp  of  confidence,  but  which 
has  in  it  really  a  large  element  of  uncertainty  and 
doubt.  By  all  these  processes,  concerning  which 
much  more  might  be  said,  faith  has  been  weakened, 
and  it  has  come  to  pass  that  the  calm,  direct,  un- 
questioning confidence  concerning  God,  in  the 
strength  of  which  the  best  of  our  fathers  initiated 
the  missionary  work,  is  not  present  in  the  same  ful- 
ness with  their  children.  Never  indeed  was  such 
confidence  perfect,  and  never  has  it  attained  to  such 
fulness  as  the  gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  renders  possible. 
Better  possibilities  are  before  us  still.  But  the  gen- 
eral effect  of  the  transformations  of  the  passing  time 
has  been  to  diminish  rather  than  to  increase  the  sense 
of  God,  with  a  great  part  of  the  Christian  people  who 
need  it  for  their  work. 

Therefore  there  is  need  of  a  great  requickening  of 
faith.     The  faith  in  God  that  is  needed  in  the  church 


200         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

for  the  purposes  of  the  missionary  work  is  not  an 
elaborate  thing,  made  up  of  many  elements;  it  is  a 
simple,  direct,  effective  sense  of  the  reality  of  God  as 
a  living  person  and  power,  whose  heart,  revealed  in 
Christ,  is  the  heart  of  a  Saviour  to  mankind.  The 
modern  missionary  endeavor  was  begun  under  the 
impulse  of  such  a  faith.  To  the  leaders  in  that  work 
it  was  simply  a  fact  that  God  lives,  that  man  needs 
his  grace,  and  that  his  grace  is  available.  This  was 
among  the  assumptions  of  life.  The  conviction  con- 
cerning it  was  not  so  much  a  reasoned  and  established 
conviction,  as  it  was  an  unquestioning  certainty. 
The  pioneers  of  the  missionary  work  had  hearts  and 
minds  occupied  by  this  certainty,  or  they  could 
scarcely  have  committed  themselves  to  action  on  the 
strength  of  it  as  they  did.  The  vigor  of  the  mission- 
ary endeavor  depends  upon  the  continuance  of  such  a 
sense  of  the  reality  of  God  and  his  saving  grace. 
If  it  droops,  it  must  be  revived.  The  work  may  be 
continued  long  in  spite  of  decline  of  faith,  but  loss 
of  the  living  sense  of  God  and  of  the  instinctive  cer- 
tainty concerning  him,  means  loss  of  force  for  the 
work,  loss  of  directness  in  effort,  and  loss  of  quality 
in  the  result.  If  we  are  now  in  a  period  of  hesitancy, 
of  questioning,  and  of  comparatively  inefficient  faith 
concerning  God  and  his  saving  grace  for  the  world, 


THE  NEXT  NEEDS  IN  MISSIONS  201 

the  interests  of  missions  require  that  somehow  we 
come  through  this  period,  into  a  time  when  the  living 
God  who  is  Saviour  to  the  world  in  Christ  is  so  real 
that  we  are  ready  to  act  in  view  of  him,  as  promptly 
and  joyously  as  ever  our  fathers  did.  The  ideal 
manner  for  missionary  service,  indeed,  is  nothing  else 
than  the  manner  in  which  our  Master  Christ  himself 
took  God  and  saving  grace  for  granted,  and  lived  and 
died  without  a  question,  for  the  accomplishment  of 
the  divine  will  for  the  salvation  of  the  world. 

To  some  this  may  seem  like  empty  talk,  and  to 
others  hopeless.  If  the  requickening  of  faith  is  in- 
dispensable to  missions,  they  may  think,  missions  are 
doomed.  The  simple  faith  of  our  fathers  is  exactly 
what  we  cannot  get.  Changes  have  swept  over  us, 
new  thoughts  have  come  in,  a  new  world  has  been 
entered.  One  result  is  that  the  faith  in  which  mis- 
sions were  inaugurated  is  gone;  and  it  is  the  very 
essence  of  change  that  it  never  returns  upon  its 
course.  Something  else  we  may  have,  but  what  has 
been  left  behind  in  passing  from  one  world  to  another 
we  can  never  have  again.  Some  may  talk  thus  in  a 
tone  of  superiority,  glad  that  the  faith  of  a  childish 
period  is  no  more;  some  may  say  it  apprehensively 
and  with  regret,  or  in  an  agony  of  fear  lest  faith 


202         A  STUDY   OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

should  not  come  back.  How  is  it  ?  Can  we,  or  can 
we  not,  hereafter  have  that  simple  faith  in  the  living 
God  and  his  saving  grace  in  Christ  without  which 
missions  cannot  prosper?  Is  the  great  requickening 
that  we  need  possible,  or  impossible  ? 

The  requickening  is  possible.  The  world  has  not 
passed,  in  its  great  transition,  out  of  the  region  where 
the  human  heart  can  obtain  a  simple,  direct,  working 
faith  in  God  and  his  saving  grace  in  Christ.  Those 
who  claim  that  it  has,  and  those  who  fear  that  it  has, 
are  alike  misjudging  the  facts.  There  must,  of  course, 
be  changes  in  the  conception  of  God  upon  which  faith 
takes  hold,  for  thought  and  love  and  life  have  been 
busy  with  the  conception  of  God  meanwhile,  and 
not  in  vain;  but  they  need  not  be  changes  for  the 
poorer  or  the  less  divine,  —  rather  may  they  be 
changes  for  the  simpler,  the  richer,  and  the  more 
Christlike.  It  does  not  follow,  because  our  fathers 
had  a  living  faith  that  led  them  out  to  brave  self- 
sacrifice,  that  their  knowledge  of  God  was  such  as 
to  admit  of  no  advance,  or  that  their  conception 
of  him  left  nothing  to  be  desired  by  us.  Under 
his  own  leading  we  may  perhaps  gain  some  new 
thoughts  of  him  for  which  they  might  well  have 
been  thankful.  The  truth  is  that  a  conception  of 
God  in  Christ  may  be  attained,  in  the  light  of  which 


THE  NEXT  NEEDS  IN  MISSIONS  203 

it  will  be  even  more  natural  than  before  for  a 
Christian  heart  to  act  unquestioningly  in  faith  upon 
him.  This  is  the  thing  that  is  coming  to  pass.  Into 
this  God  is  leading  his  children,  through  that  great 
transition  of  which  so  many  of  them  are  afraid.  A 
vast  world  of  new  thoughts  and  new  knowledge  is 
opening  upon  us,  but  in  that  world  we  are  to  know 
a  God  in  whom  we  can  have  a  faith  as  simple,  direct, 
and  childlike  as  any  faith  of  our  fathers  has  been,  and 
even  more  full,  we  hope,  of  Christlike  quality  and 
power.  To  doubt  this  is  to  doubt  God.  If  in  a 
larger  world  of  truer  knowledge  we  cannot  so  find 
our  God  as  to  walk  by  faith  in  him,  then  he  is  not 
the  God  that  we  thought  him  to  be,  the  God  of  all. 
In  the  new  world  into  which  he  is  bringing  us  we  can 
believe  in  God  with  even  a  better  faith  than  was  ever 
known  before. 

Not  in  a  day,  however,  can  the  better  faith  arise  in 
power.  Transitions  are  trying,  and  they  take  longer 
than  we  think  they  ought.  Some  time  may  pass  be- 
fore the  Christian  people  attain  in  the  new  period  to 
a  strong  unquestioning  recognition  of  God  and  his 
grace.  Some  Christians  now  living  do  not  expect  it 
or  think  it  possible,  for  they  look  only  for  decline 
toward  the  end  of  the  age.  Some  think  the  nature 
of  the  new  knowledge  renders  the  requickening  of 


204         A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

faith  impossible,  except  to  those  who  forswear  the 
knowledge.  Many  will  only  gradually  overcome 
their  fear  of  the  new  age  into  which  God  is  leading  us. 
Adequate  recognition  of  God  is  not  the  earliest 
thought  in  any  age  of  real  activity,  and  it  cannot 
come  in  full  at  once.  But  it  can  come,  and  come 
it  will.  The  age  of  evolutionary  thought  is  destined 
to  include  among  its  forces  a  simple  and  powerful 
faith  in  the  living  God,  when  once  spiritual  truth 
has  had  opportunity  to  take  its  hold.  If  the  process 
requires  time,  not  the  less  sure  is  it.  It  is  the  great 
need  of  missions  that  the  requickening  of  faith  should 
come ;  therefore  it  is  the  first  need  and  duty  of  the 
Christian  people  to  perceive  that  it  can  come,  and 
expect  that  it  will  come.  We  shall  hasten  it  if  we 
believe  in  it  and  delay  it  if  we  doubt  it. 

2.  The  second  of  the  immediate  needs  in  missions, 
closely  associated  with  the  first,  is,  the  establishing 
of  the  missionary  motive  among  the  vital  thoughts 
of  the  modern  age. 

Here  it  is  assumed  that  we  are  passing,  or  have 
passed,  into  a  modern  age  that  differs  in  important 
respects  from  the  period  before  it.  On  all  sides  this 
is  granted  to  be  true.  All  recognize  the  new  time. 
But  concerning  the  relation  of  the  new  time  to  mis- 


THE  NEXT  NEEDS  IN  MISSIONS  205 

sions  and  the  motive  from  which  they  spring,  there 
are  various  judgments.  "We  are  entering  a  new 
age,"  says  one,  "in  which  it  will  prove  that  the 
missionary  motive  with  all  its  works  has  been  left 
behind  and  is  forgotten.  The  new  age  has  no  place 
for  the  missionary  impulse.  The  evolutionary  thought 
dooms  it,  and  the  world  will  be  the  better  for  the 
doom."  "We  are  entering  a  new  age,"  says  another 
who  believes  in  missions  and  desires  to  see  them  per- 
petuated, "  but  it  is  an  age  which  in  itself  can  develop 
no  missionary  motive  and  entertain  none.  No  mis- 
sionary impulse  will  be  at  home  in  it.  But  the  work 
must  go  on,  and  therefore  we  must  bring  over  the 
missionary  motive  of  our  older  world,  unchanged 
and  solid,  and  maintain  it  as  an  alien  divine  element 
in  an  age  that  cannot  care  for  it.  This  we  must  do 
or  there  will  be  no  hope."  "We  are  entering  a  new 
age,"  says  yet  another.  "The  new  age  will  have 
its  own  vital  thoughts,  which  alone,  like  the  vital 
thoughts  of  any  age,  will  have  real  power  with  it. 
Among  the  vital  thoughts  of  the  modern  age  there 
is  a  natural  and  worthy  place  for  the  Christian  mis- 
sionary motive ;  and  this  motive  must  be  established 
among  them,  as  a  living  force  that  belongs  there  and 
is  at  home.  Missions  must  be  planted  in  among  the 
things  that  the  new  age  owns  and  will  maintain." 


206         A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

This  last  expression  best  represents  the  relation  of 
the  missionary  motive  to  the  modern  age.  The 
Christian  people  should  entertain  no  idea  of  allowing 
the  modern  age  to  drop  the  missionary  motive  from 
among  its  vital  thoughts.  To  admit  that  the  mis- 
sionary motive  does  not  belong  among  the  vital 
thoughts  of  the  age  upon  which  we  are  entering  is 
feebleness  itself,  — it  is  unbelief,  it  is  atheism.  The 
modern  age  with  its  characteristic  thoughts  has  room 
legitimately  for  the  missionary  motive.  Missions  do 
not  belong  alone  to  the  period  that  is  retiring  into 
the  past :  they  belong  just  as  much  to  the  period  that 
is  opening  now.  A  time  will  soon  have  come  when 
Christians  are  influenced  far  more  than  they  have  yet 
been  by  the  thoughts  that  belong  to  the  evolutionary 
system.  Will  that  be  a  missionary  time?  it  will;  and 
it  is  a  needful  work  of  the  present  day  to  claim  that  it 
will  be  a  missionary  time,  and  to  help  make  it  such,  by 
bringing  in  the  missionary  motive  to  its  place  among 
the  thoughts  that  will  be  vital  in  that  coming  day. 

There  is  no  friend  of  missions  who  supposes  that 
the  missionary  work  is  destined  to  stop.  But  all 
must  see  that  if  it  is  not  to  stop,  it  must  be  continued 
in  the  new  period,  which  is  extremely  unlike  the  old. 
The  specifications  of  difference  between  the  old 
period  and  the  new  are  most  impressive,  and  some  of 


THE  NEXT  NEEDS  IN  IVnSSIONS  207 

them  must  be  mentioned.  The  missions  that  are 
now  in  hand  were  begun  when  the  peoples  to  whom 
they  were  sent  were  practically  unknown.  They 
must  be  continued  when  those  peoples  are  abund- 
antly described  to  us  in  books,  when  some  of  them 
are  familiar  to  our  eyes,  and  when  many  of  them 
are  closely  bound  to  us  in  political  and  commercial 
relations.  Missions  were  begun  when  the  religions 
of  the  world  were  as  unknown  as  the  peoples ;  they 
were  popularly  classed  together  as  simply  false,  and 
were  regarded  as  fruits  of  evil,  and  productive  of 
nothing  but  evil  to  mankind.  Missions  are  to  be 
continued  when  the  religions  of  the  world  have  been 
scientifically  examined,  when  they  are  regarded 
as  true  products  of  the  religious  nature  of  man, 
when  it  is  held  that  they  have  done  good  in  their 
day  as  well  as  harm,  and  when  the  popular  tend- 
ency is  not  to  pity  them,  but  to  estimate  them  too 
highly.  Missions  were  begun  when  it  was  be- 
lieved that  man  was  a  creature  unconnected  with  all 
other  creatures  in  the  world,  who  had  existed  on  the 
earth  only  six  thousand  years.  They  must  be  con- 
tinued when  it  is  held  that  man  is  a  genuine  part  of 
the  animal  order,  created  by  God  by  processes  and 
not  by  fiat,  that  he  has  been  on  the  earth  for  ages, 
and  that  he  has  in  himself  an  inheritance  as  old  as  life 


208         A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

itself.  Missions  were  begun  when  it  was  held  that 
the  entire  human  race,  created  sinless,  was  morally 
ruined  through  the  fall  of  Adam,  from  whom  all  the 
living  inherited  both  depravity  and  condemnation. 
They  must  be  continued  when  it  is  widely  held  that 
mankind,  developed  from  below,  is  naturally  a  slowly- 
rising  race,  but  is  burdened,  for  the  purposes  of  its 
own  spiritual  being,  with  a  vast  inheritance  from  the 
animal  world,  which  passes  over  mysteriously  but 
really  into  sin,  for  which  the  individual  has  blame. 
Missions  were  begun  when  it  was  believed  that  God 
regarded  men  primarily  as  subject  to  his  law  and  liable 
to  his  righteous  judgment.  They  must  be  continued 
when  it  is  widely  believed  that  God  regards  man 
primarily  as  subject  to  his  training  and  open  to  his 
influence,  and  life  is  considered  a  school  rather  than 
a  scene  of  probation.  Missions  were  begun  when  it 
was  believed  that  all  who  had  never  heard  of  Christ 
were  passing,  from  the  moment  of  their  death,  to  an 
absolutely  hopeless  doom.  They  must  be  continued 
when  this  ancient  belief  has  lost  its  power.  Missions 
must  be  continued,  moreover,  not  only  in  a  period 
when  these  later  views  and  others  like  them  are 
held,  but  when  it  seems  certain  to  those  who  have 
received  them  that  they  are  grounded  in  sound 
knowledge,  and  cannot  be  abandoned. 


THE  NEXT  NEEDS  IN  MISSIONS  209 

These  are  facts  which  it  is  wise  for  all  friends  of 
missions  to  consider,  and  shortsighted  for  them  to 
overlook.  They  ought  to  be  considered,  simply  he- 
cause  they  are  facts.  Some  readers  may  deem  it 
unwise  and  even  dangerous  to  call  attention  to  them. 
But  certainly  Christian  missions  have  to  be  continued 
in  a  world  of  ideas  different  from  that  in  which  they 
began.  No  matter  whether  we  accept  these  later 
ideas,  or  reject  them,  or  hold  our  minds  in  suspense 
about  them,  the  fact  remains  that  our  missionary 
work  must  be  carried  on  in  a  world  that  is  profoundly 
influenced  by  them.  It  follows  that  if  missions  are 
to  be  continued  with  energy  and  zest,  the  motive  to 
prosecute  them  must  be  established  among  the  vital 
thoughts  of  the  age  that  is  influenced  by  these  views. 
Surely  no  Christian  will  maintain  that  missionary 
interest  is  henceforth  to  be  possible  only  to  those 
who  reject  the  incoming  ideas.  To  maintain  that 
would  be  to  put  Christianity  in  the  past,  and  resign 
for  it  the  mastership  of  the  world.  The  thoughts  of 
the  modern  age  have  come  to  stay,  and  if  missions 
cannot  live  with  them,  missions  can  have  only  a  lan- 
guishing life  in  the  future.  The  missionary  motive 
needs  to  be  so  formed  that  Christians  who  live  in  the 
thought  of  the  new  age  shall  entertain  it  enthusiasti- 
cally, and  be  impelled  by  it  to  action,  as  their  fathers 

14 


210         A  STUDY    OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

were.  If  this  does  not  occur,  the  endeavor  to  make 
Christianity  the  religion  of  the  world  will  droop,  and 
finally  cease.  We  cannot  see  too  clearly  that  mis- 
sions are  doomed  unless  they  can  live  with  the  new 
thought. 

Of  course  the  urgent  question  is  whether  the  mis- 
sionary motive  can  thus  be  established  among  the  vital 
thoughts  of  the  coming  day.  There  are  plenty  of 
modern  men  who  think  the  coming  age  has  no  place 
for  the  missionary  motive,  and  there  are  plenty  of 
Christians  from  the  older  time  who  agree  with  them. 
But  the  word  of  truth  and  faith  is  that  the  Christian 
missionary  motive  belongs  by  right  among  the  vital 
thoughts  of  the  new  time,  and  can  be  established 
there.  The  future  will  prove  it  to  be  so;  and  the 
present  need  is  that  the  Christian  people  rise  to  the 
vision  of  the  truth  in  the  case,  and  claim  the  mission- 
ary impulse  as  a  genuine  part  of  the  modern  life. 

A  few  words  must  be  given  to  showing  how  the 
missionary  motive  comes  in  among  the  vital  thoughts 
of  the  modern  age.  Only  the  briefest  hint  can  be 
given,  but  it  may  be  useful  to  offer  even  this. 

That  fatalistic  outcome  of  belief  in  evolution,  men- 
tioned in  the  preceding  chapter,  according  to  which 
each  religion  is  judged  to  be  the  best  for  those  who 


THE  NEXT   NEEDS  IN  MISSIONS  211 

have  it,  is  not  the  true  and  lasting  outcome.  In  fact 
it  is  radically  untenable  on  evolutionary  grounds. 
It  is  by  no  means  true  that  the  unfolding  course  of 
the  world  always  brings  forth  the  thing  that  ought 
to  remain.  Evolution  in  fact  brings  nothing  to  stay : 
all  that  it  brings  is  destined  to  pass  into  something 
else,  as  spring  passes  into  summer.  In  this  forward 
movement  man  may  help  and  guide.  Every  man 
knows  this,  for  every  man  seeks  to  better  his  own 
condition,  though  evolution  brought  him  to  it.  Much 
of  the  most  intelligent  and  useful  work  of  our  day  for 
the  improvement  of  the  lot  of  the  unfortunate  is 
undertaken  on  the  principle  that  it  is  the  duty  and 
privilege  of  man  to  take  hold  with  the  universal  order 
and  direct  his  own  evolution.  This  is  the  function 
of  human  intelligence,  a  gift  conferred  in  vain,  one 
may  almost  say,  unless  it  were  thus  employed.  The 
high  powers  of  man  —  intelligence,  affection,  moral 
judgment,  will  —  find  their  right  use  in  the  work  of 
ministering  to  the  upward  movement  that  is  normal 
to  humanity.  This  helpful  work  is  to  be  done  not 
solely  by  the  individual  for  himself;  it  must  be  done 
by  each  and  by  the  many,  for  the  good  of  all.  Ser- 
vice to  the  race  is  the  proper  work  of  the  race.  The 
ideal  in  human  evolution  is  a  state  in  which  the  best 
heart  and  mind  and  will   that  the   race   possesses 


212         A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

shall  be  faithfully  and  patiently  devoted  to  the  rais- 
ing of  the  whole  race  to  its  best  possibilities.  Thus 
the  missionary  idea  belongs  to  evolution. 

One  who  perceives  this  but  does  not  take  an  interest 
in  religion  may  offer  help  to  humanity  in  other  fields 
of  life.  But  a  Christian  who  has  learned  this  moral 
lesson  of  evolution  will  say  that  the  great  possession 
which  above  all  others  ought  to  be  handed  on  to 
those  who  are  without  it  is  the  knowledge  and  expe- 
;:ience  of  the  living  God.  Through  Christ,  and  in 
Christianity,  we  know  the  living  and  true  God,  the 
God  who  exists,  the  only  God  who  exists  or  ever  can 
exist.  He  is  the  God  of  all  who  live  or  can  ever  live. 
Through  Christ  we  know  his  character,  and  have 
learned  that  he  is  a  holy  being,  and  a  friend.  He  is 
a  Saviour  to  mankind.  He  is  love,  and  has  acted  out 
his  love  in  that  mission  of  Christ  whereby  salvation 
from  sin  has  become  a  glorious  possession  to  men. 
Yet  he  is  no  soft  and  unexacting  lover ;  he  is  a  firm 
and  holy  Lord,  giving  his  gifts  as  alone  they  can  be 
given,  in  connection  with  conformity  to  his  own 
necessary  demands.  There  is  no  way  home  to  him 
except  through  the  establishment  of  moral  fellow- 
ship ;  but  in  Christ  he  forgives,  in  Christ  he  renews 
the  heart  and  life,  in  Christ  he  establishes  the  moral 
fellowship.     In   Christ  he   saves,    renovates,   trans- 


THE  NEXT  NEEDS  IN  MISSIONS  213 

forms,  both  the  individual  soul  and  the  life  that  men 
live  together.  He  is  Saviour  both  for  men  and  for 
man,  for  the  individual  and  for  the  race. 

This  is  the  best  in  religion  that  has  ever  been 
known  among  men.  Only  compare  it  with  the  relig- 
ions under  which  the  nations  are  living,  religions  de- 
fective exactly  in  this,  the  knowledge  of  the  true  and 
living  God  the  Saviour.  It  is  the  best  in  religion 
that  men  are  destined  to  have ;  for  nothing  simpler, 
loftier  or  more  fundamental  in  religion  is  possible 
than  this  which  is  given  us  in  Christ,  —  only  we 
need  to  see  completely  how  simple,  how  independent 
and  how  necessarily  true  this  gospel  of  God  the 
Saviour  really  is.  To  impart  such  a  gift  to  all  man- 
kind is  the  duty  of  all  who  possess  it ;  and  this  duty 
is  enforced  alike  by  the  command  of  Christ,  and  by 
the  relations  that  are  brought  to  light  through  the 
doctrine  of  evolution. 

To  claim  this  place  for  the  missionary  motive  is 
not  by  any  means  to  withdraw  it  from  its  old  position 
in  relation  to  Christ  and  his  authority.  It  holds  its 
old  place,  and  it  has  its  new.  What  Christ  teaches 
is  universal  truth,  adapted  to  all  stages  of  human  in- 
telligence. The  holy  missionary  motive  that  he  has 
inculcated  is  a  motive  of  universal  and  everlasting 
fitness,  as  long  as  men  are  men  and  a  part  of  them 


214         A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

know  God.  The  present  necessity  is  that  this 
universal  right  and  sway  of  the  missionary  motive 
be  discerned  by  the  Christian  people,  and  that  the 
impulse  which  has  been  so  powerful  and  beneficent 
in  the  old  relations  be  introduced  to  a  career  of 
equal  power  and  beneficence  in  the  new  relations 
that  are  coming  on. 

3.  The  third  of  the  immediate  needs  in  missions  is 
the  simplifying  of  the  Christian  message,  by  distin- 
guishing what  is  central  from  what  is  not. 

The  central  Christian  message  which  we  deliver  in 
missions  is  that  which  has  just  now  been  spoken  of. 
It  consists  in  that  which  Christianity  alone  possesses. 
The  central  Christian  message  is,  that  there  is  one 
only  God,  whom  we  know  in  Christ;  that  he  is  the 
holy  One,  who  hates  our  sins  while  he  loves  our 
souls;  that  he  desires  to  make  us  right  and  fill  us 
with  all  true  blessing ;  that  in  Christ  he  has  expressed 
himself,  and  brought  his  saving  goodness  near  to 
bless  us ;  that  he  forgives  our  sins  and  wakens  in  us  a 
holy  inward  life ;  that  he  is  the  healer  of  our  evil,  the 
comforter  of  our  sorrows  and  the  inspiration  of  all 
goodness ;  that  to  know  him  and  to  love  him  is  to  find 
peace  to  our  souls  and  strength  for  all  virtue ;  that 
for  time  and  eternity  the  true  acquaintance  with  God 


THE  NEXT   NEEDS  IN  MISSIONS  215 

through  Jesus  Christ  is  the  supreme  good;  and  that 
his  goodness  is  the  revolutionary  power  for  blessing 
to  all  the  world.  Here  we  offer  the  forgiveness  of 
sins,  the  consoling  of  troubles,  the  transformation  of 
the  soul,  the  uplifting  of  life  to  heavenly  ranges,  the 
blighting  of  evil,  the  practical  every-day  inspiration 
of  common  virtue ;  and  we  offer  it  all  not  in  theory 
but  in  actual  Christian  experience,  which  makes  us 
acquainted  with  God  as  Christ  reveals  him.  This  is 
the  central  Christian  message. 

We  offer  this  message  as  one  that  is  confirmed  and 
authenticated  by  experience.  "  Come,  taste  and  see 
that  the  Lord  is  good,"  is  the  call  of  Christendom  to 
the  world.  We  offer  what  the  universal  Christian 
experience  has  found  true,  and  what  we  have  experi- 
enced ourselves;  and  we  challenge  all  who  hear  to 
put  our  tidings  to  the  one  test  of  truth  which  is 
available  to  all.  If  they  will  fairly  test  it,  we  assure 
them,  they  will  find  it  true.  Christ  died  for  us,  we 
tell  them,  and  he  died  for  you.  Christ  has  won  our 
hearts,  and  he  can  win  yours.  This  good  news  has 
been  to  us  God's  power  unto  salvation,  and  so  it  will 
be  to  you.  God  will  evidence  himself  to  the  soul 
that  trusts  him  and  to  the  people  that  will  obey  him. 
That  God  is  good  enough  to  do  all  things  for  us,  and 
that  moral  fellowship  with  him  is  our  one  hope,  — 


216         A  STUDY   OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

this  is  what  we  declare,  and  this  we  invite  all  hearers 
to  test  by  experience.  And  meanwhile,  before  they 
have  gotten  far  enough  to  test  it,  we  urge  our  mes- 
sage upon  them  in  the  name  of  God  who  sent  us  to 
them,  and  in  the  name  of  our  message  itself,  which 
surpasses  all  other  messages  in  fine,  deep-reaching, 
self-evidencing  power.  The  living  God  in  the  mes- 
sage appeals  to  the  living  man  who  was  made  for  God. 

Between  this  single  evangelical  message  and  much 
that  stands  associated  with  it  there  is  a  radical  differ- 
ence. As  soon  as  we  have  felt  the  power  of  this 
gospel  of  God,  we  see  at  once  that  nothing  else  can 
rank  as  equal  to  it.  This  is  the  unique  word  of  life. 
What  we  offer  is  so  truly  a  word  of  life  that  we  can 
scarcely  help  wishing  it  did  not  need  to  bear  a  special 
name,  as  Christianity,  or  be  called  a  religion.  What 
we  bear  to  men  in  missions  is  God's  great  presenta- 
tion of  himself  to  them  as  their  holy  Saviour-friend 
for  whom  they  were  created  and  in  whom  alone  they 
can  rightly  live.  Nothing  else  can  rank  with  this. 
All  incidental  and  surrounding  matters  ought  to  be 
presented  as  incidental  and  surrounding,  and  this 
ought  to  be  kept  in  solitary  glory  and  tenderness,  as 
the  central  Christian  message,  which  forces  all  else 
toward  the  circumference. 


THE  NEXT  NEEDS  IN  MISSIONS  217 

Yet  it  proves  to  be  the  fact  that  in  our  missions  we 
feel  ourselves  required  to  present  Christianity.  We 
present  it  as  a  system.  We  present  all  that  we  regard 
as  belonging  to  it.  This  'may  be  less  or  more  in 
amount,  but  it  probably  includes  a  good  deal  besides 
the  central  message.  Sometimes  it  includes  the  en- 
tire substance  of  the  Biblical  narrative,  all  being  read 
as  one  divine  declaration,  whether  it  be  the  goodness 
of  God  and  his  self-revealing  to  us,  or  the  events  in 
the  history  of  the  patriarchs  and  of  Israel.  We  offer 
the  whole  book  as  a  part  of  Christianity,  and  insist 
that  Christianity  is  dependent  upon  the  acceptance 
of  the  entire  substance  of  the  book.  Very  often, 
perhaps  usually,  in  missions,  it  is  taught  as  a  part 
of  Christianity  that  the  earth  was  created  in  six 
days,  and  that  man  was  formed  out  of  the  dust  of  the 
ground  and  woman  was  made  from  a  rib  of  man. 
We  do  not  offer  the  entire  Biblical  narrative  as 
equally  important  with  the  tidings  of  the  eternal 
goodness,  but  we  do  convey  the  impression  that  the 
two  elements  are  so  bound  up  together  that  we  shall 
lose  the  central  message  if  we  do  not  hold  the  nar- 
rative. Along  with'  the  words  of  eternal  life  that 
Jesus  brought,  we  carry  a  body  of  ancient  history, 
with  a  thousand  details  that  do  not  touch  eternal 
life,  and  declare  that  the  whole  must  be  taken  to- 


218        A   STUDY   OF    CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

gether  or  the  words  of  life  will  slip  away.  Thus  do 
we  lay  burdens  on  the  gospel,  and  on  those  to  whom 
we  preach  it.  And,  on  another  side  of  the  subject, 
it  is  common  for  special  doctrines  to  be  presented  as 
a  part  of  Christianity,  and  indeed  for  the  whole  sys- 
tem of  doctrine  to  be  so  presented.  It  is  sometimes 
held  that  Christianity  is  a  system  of  doctrines,  or  at 
least  can  be  adequately  represented  by  its  doctrines. 
Our  theories  and  explanations  of  things,  our  solutions 
of  the  divine  mysteries,  are  wrought  in  with  our  mes- 
sage as  if  they  essentially  belonged  to  it.  Our  creeds 
provide  us  with  a  large  element  in  our  message,  and 
we  offer  the  nations  a  Calvinistic  or  an  Arminian 
interpretation  of  the  grace  of  God,  making  this  the 
gospel  that  we  give  them.  Thus  on  the  one  hand 
we  make  the  central  message  dependent  upon  our 
theory  of  what  the  Bible  is,  and  on  the  other  we 
attach  to  it  our  systems  of  doctrine,  and  even  of  phil- 
osophy. Doubtless  this  statement  is  too  strong,  for 
our  hearts  are  better  than  our  heads,  and  we  do 
preach  the  gospel  of  Christ  in  its  simplicity;  yet 
when  we  come  to  complete  our  doctrine,  and  tell  our 
converts  what  as  Christians  they  are  to  hold,  we  do 
not  keep  our  central  message  distinct  in  its  glory, 
but  bind  in  with  it  our  views  of  inspiration  and  of 
doctrine,  and  probably  even  of  church  polity. 


THE  NEXT  NEEDS  IN  MISSIONS  219 

One  resulting  difficulty  we  may  pass  in  few  words, 
though  it  is  a  serious  one  in  practice.  Christianity 
is  sometimes  put  in  the  wrong.  Our  converts  meet, 
as  they  already  do  in  Japan,  the  scientific  denial  of 
the  doctrine  that  the  earth  was  created  in  six  days, 
but  are  expected  as  Christians  to  maintain  the  doc- 
trine that  science  thus  denies.  An  untenable  position 
has  been  taken  in  the  name  of  Christianity,  and  all 
the  inevitable  consequences  follow.  Christian  teach- 
ing is  justly  discredited,  and  our  converts  are  exposed 
to  perplexities  and  embarrassments  that  we  ought  to 
have  rendered  impossible  to  them.  We  have  no 
right  to  bind  in  as  a  part  of  Christianity  the  belief 
that  the  earth  was  created  in  six  days,  or  belief  in 
the  perfect  accuracy  of  the  entire  Bible.  Nor  have 
we  a  right  to  bind  in  as  a  part  of  Christianity  dis- 
puted matters  in  doctrine  and  philosophy.  Some 
means  ought  to  be  found  to  prevent  the  taking  of 
untenable  positions  in  our  missionary  teaching  and 
to  keep  the  experimental  evangelical  message  distinct 
from  doctrinal  interpretations. 

But  the  real  difficulty  that  follows  from  presenting 
too  much  as  Christianity  goes  deeper.  It  resides  in 
the  intrinsic  difference  in  things.  Nothing  else  ranks 
with  the  high  tidings  of  God  in  Christ.  This  great 
message  is  so  distinct  that  it  ought  to  be  kept  dis- 


220         A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

tinct.     No  such   matter  as    the   time   or  manner  of 
creation,  or  the  history  of  Israel,  has  any  right  to  be 
wrapped  up  with  it.     The  Biblical  narrative  tells  us 
much  about  the  manifestation  of  God  to  men,  but  the 
narrative  and  the  manifestation  are  two  things,  not 
on  the  same  level.     To  present  the  gospel  of  God  in 
Christ  as  dependent  upon  the  accuracy  of  the  Biblical 
record,  or  as  bound  up  with  the  reception  of  all  that 
the  Bible  contains,  is  to  place  the  pyramid  upon  its 
apex.     God,   God   in   Christ,    life  for  man   in  God 
through  Christ,  love  and  trust  toward  the  good  God, 
loyalty  to   the   eternal  goodness,  hope  in  what   the 
eternal  goodness   will   do   for  us   sinful   and  needy 
men,  —  these  are  the  great  Christian  realities,  and  they 
deserve  to  be  presented  in  their  own  inherent  strength, 
uncomplicated  with   any  matters   inferior   to  them. 
And  when  we  come,  beyond  all  incidentals,  to  these 
realities  themselves,  it  is  not  in  the  Calvinistic  or  the 
Arminian  form  of  them  that  their  virtue  dwells,  and 
it  is  not  by  the  systematic  exposition  of  them  that 
their  vital  power  is  brought  forth.     We  overestimate 
the  intellect  in  religion,  and  rely  upon  it  for  what 
only  the  heart  can  do.     It  is  through  faith  that  men 
are  to  be  saved,  and  we  must  learn  to  present  the 
real  gospel  in  such  manner  that  it  shall  appeal  with 
power  to  that  capacity  for  trust  which  God  has  im- 


THE  NEXT  NEEDS  IN  MISSIONS  221 

planted  in  the  human  soul.  That  we  should  learn 
to  do  this  is  one  of  the  immediate  needs  in  our  mis- 
sionary work.  We  must  make  more  of  our  central 
message,  by  distinguishing  it  from  matters  that  do 
not  rank  with  it.  We  must  learn  to  be  content  with 
preaching  the  simple  gospel,  and  keep  the  central 
gospel  by  itself. 

The  fact  that  delicate  and  difficult  questions  attend 
upon  the  right  action  in  this  matter  does  not  make 
our  duty  less  plain  or  urgent.  The  questions  are 
coming  in  any  case,  and  the  right  action  is  the  only 
way  to  prepare  for  them.  The  current  discussions* 
about  the  Bible  cannot  be  kept  from  the  mission- 
fields.  Some  day  it  will  become  known  that  the  Bible 
is  being  studied  upon  a  method  that  was  unknown 
to  the  fathers,  but  which  is  certainly  a  right  method. 
It  will  be  known  that  new  conclusions  about  the  Bible 
have  resulted  from  this  modern  study;  it  will  be 
learned,  too,  that  while  some  of  the  conclusions  may 
be  corrected  by  further  study,  the  method  itself  has 
come  to  stay,  and  study  of  the  Bible  must  hereafter 
be  conducted  under  its  influence.  Under  its  influ- 
ence the  Bible,  instead  of  being  spoiled  as  some  fear 
it  may  be,  becomes  more  intelligible  than  before. 
Knowledge  of  these  facts  has  already  reached  the 
mission-field  in  Japan,  and  will  some  day  enter  all 


222         A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN   MISSIONS 

the  fields.  When  that  day  comes,  it  is  to  be  desired 
that  the  central  message  of  the  gospel  may  be  found 
standing  on  independent  grounds,  sufficiently  sup- 
ported by  its  own  inherent  excellence.  But  it  will 
not  be  so,  unless  the  missionaries  make  it  so.  It  is 
possible  for  missionaries  to  prepare  for  their  converts 
a  day  of  deep  trouble  by  holding  a  reactionary  atti- 
tude, and  teaching  them  that  the  new  methods  are 
inconsistent  with  the  Christian  faith.  In  the  cur- 
rent bitter  condemnation  of  the  higher  criticism  may 
be  heard  the  muttering  of  a  coming  storm  for  the 
mission-fields.  The  only  way  of  safety  and  strength 
is  to  keep  the  central  message  by  itself,  proclaim 
the  gospel  of  the  grace  of  God,  and  leave  to  study 
the  matters  that  study  must  determine.  The  gospel 
of  grace  is  eternal  and  immovable,  because  God  is 
God. 

4.  The  fourth  of  the  immediate  needs  in  missions 
is  the  loyal  and  intelligent  adoption  by  the  Christian 
people  of  the  long  and  exacting  work  of  making 
Christianity  the  religion  of  the  world. 

Here  is  required  a  change,  and  almost  a  revolution, 
in  the  attitude  of  the  Christian  people.  But  it  is 
only  the  change  that  common  wisdom  calls  for.  The 
demand  springs  immediately  from  the  nature  of  the 


THE  NEXT  NEEDS  IN  MISSIONS  223 

work.  The  missionary  enterprise  is  a  vast  one,  as 
we  have  seen  already.  It  endeavors  to  plant  the 
Christian  faith  as  the  faith  and  life-principle  of  the 
human  race.  Even  the  words  that  tell  of  such  a 
work  are  almost  overwhelming;  how  much  more  the 
vision  of  the  task  itself!  The  enterprise  demands 
long  time ;  and  if  much  is  to  be  done  there  must  be 
adequate  comprehension  of  the  nature  of  the  under- 
taking, and  great  variety  in  methods  of  work,  and 
ready  adaptation  to  conditions  as  they  arise,  and  in- 
exhaustible patience.  Since  we,  the  Christian  people, 
are  committed  to  such  an  enterprise  as  this,  it  is  only 
the  demand  of  common  sense  that  we  settle  down 
deliberately  to  the  work,  intelligently  expecting  a 
long  pull,  and  planning  to  give  it  our  best  strength 
for  an  indefinite  time  to  come.  Missionaries  on  the 
field  should  take  this  view  of  their  work,  and  the 
church  at  home  should  frankly  and  patiently  accept 
it,  with  all  that  it  implies. 

The  change  that  is  thus  required  implies  the  pass- 
ing of  the  romantic  feeling  about  missions,  with  the 
practices  that  it  has  suggested,  and  the  coming  of  a 
larger  and  maturer  idea  in  its  place.  The  romantic 
period  had  to  come,  as  we  have  said,  but  it  could  not 
last,  for  it  was  founded  in  misconception.  It  had 
not  then  been  taken  to  heart  that  the  work  of  mis- 


224         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

sions  is  the  longest,  hardest,  most  exacting  work  that 
was  ever  undertaken  by  man.  In  proportion  as  this 
is  learned,  the  methods  of  the  romantic  period  will 
pass  away. 

At  present  there  survives  from  that  earlier  time  a 
feeling  that  brings  in  a  large  sensational  element  to 
our  missionary  interest.  We  like  the  pictorial.  We 
want  stories  of  heathen  degradation,  or  else  of  swift 
success,  to  keep  our  interest  up.  We  plead  for  quick 
returns  from  labor  to  encourage  us,  and  are  cast  down 
if  they  are  wanting.  Givers  must  have  personal 
reports,  and  immediate  communication  with  mission- 
aries on  the  field,  or  their  interest  may  droop.  They 
must  know  just  where  their  money  goes,  and  be  sure 
that  it  is  spent  in  work  that  they  take  an  interest  in. 
Donations  must  be  made  specific,  not  general,  so  as 
to  gratify  the  preferences  of  donors.  Churches  must 
be  visited  by  representatives  of  the  cause,  or  they  will 
forget  and  their  contributions  will  drop  off.  Con- 
tributions must  be  publicly  reported,  not  in  the  in- 
terest of  sound  book-keeping  but  lest  givers  should 
think  they  were  overlooked.  Thus  various  motives 
must  be  appealed  to,  and  various  interests  conciliated, 
apart  from  the  real  merits  and  demands  of  the  work 
itself.  It  is  necessary  that  the  church  learn  that  all 
this  belongs  to  the  childish  period  and  is  to  be  out- 


THE  NEXT  NEEDS  IN  MISSIONS  225 

grown.  That  it  does  belong  to  the  childish  period  is 
plain  as  soon  as  the  real  nature  of  the  work  is  seen. 
The  pressing  need  at  present  is  that  the  childish 
period  may  pass,  and  the  Christian  people  may- 
address  themselves  to  missions  for  their  own  sake, 
intelligently  purposing  to  prosecute  the  work  with 
full  strength,  with  or  without  special  encouragements, 
till  it  is  finished. 

To  say  this  is  not  to  disparage  the  value  of  interest- 
ing reports,  or  the  inspiration  of  swift  success,  or  the 
advantage  of  having  personal  connection  with  the 
field.  All  these  things  are  good,  and  should  be  used 
for  the  good  that  there  is  in  them.  We  shall  always 
have  them,  too :  there  will  always  be  enough  of  these 
good  gifts  to  serve  finely  for  the  refreshing  of  mis- 
sionary interest.  But  if  these  are  the  main  reliance, 
only  a  weak  and  fitful  interest  can  be  maintained. 
Something  stronger  and  steadier  is  needed.  A  great 
work  requires  a  great  purpose.  If  missions  are  to  be 
worthily  conducted,  the  childish  period  must  pass, 
and  the  steady  work  of  maturity  must  be  undertaken. 
The  Christian  people  must  adopt  the  work  well  know- 
ing what  it  is,  and  consenting  to  the  strain  upon  their 
faith  and  patience  which  it  involves.  They  must 
accept  it  with  a  consecration  that  neither  depends  on 
small   encouragements   nor  heeds  small  discourage- 

15 


226         A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

ments,  and  holds  on  its  way  because  it  has  set  forth 
intelligently,  knowing  what  the  undertaking  means. 

One  of  the  encouraging  facts  apparent  in  the 
Ecumenical  Missionary  Conference  of  1900  was  the 
evident  growth  of  the  conviction  that  the  missionary 
work  is  a  great  practical  enterprise,  which  requires 
the  application  of  Christian  faith  and  sound  business 
principles  in  equal  measure.  It  was  not  represented 
that  the  work  could  prosper  without  faith  and  prayer 
and  reliance  upon  God,  and  no  more  was  it  imagined 
that  the  work  could  prosper  without  sound  business 
methods,  and  skill  in  administration,  and  versatility 
in  operation,  and  such  dogged  persistency  as  great 
enterprises  always  require.  It  was  apparent  that  the 
missionary  enterprise  was  beginning  to  take  an  ac- 
knowledged place  among  those  large  works  that  re- 
quire generalship  and  patience  and  comprehensive 
wisdom.  No  more  encouraging  fact  than  this  did 
the  great  Conference  present.  By  the  exhibition  of 
this  quality  of  common  sense,  the  missionary  enter- 
prise commended  itself  to  sound  judgment  and  be- 
came more  satisfactory  to  reasonable  men;  and  we 
cannot  doubt  that  by  the  same  fact  the  work  of  his 
children  became  more  pleasing  to  God. 

The  managers  of  the  great  missionary  societies  are 
compelled  to  act  upon  this  principle,  less  or  more. 


THE   NEXT  NEEDS  IN  MISSIONS  227 

They  are  obliged  to  look  ahead,  to  lay  foundations 
for  the  future,  to  sow  seed  that  will  be  long  in  com- 
ing up.  They  cannot  avoid  this  duty.  If  they  do 
not  deliberately  plan  for  a  long  work,  and  conduct  it 
on  sound  practical  principles,  and  invest  the  present 
for  the  sake  of  the  future,  the  defective  quality  of 
their  work  will  soon  reveal  and  punish  their  mistake. 
They  are  compelled  into  the  field  of  business  and 
statesmanship  by  the  very  conditions  that  they 
encounter.  But  alas  for  the  loneliness  of  the  leaders 
who  are  compelled  to  take  large  views  and  brave 
large  work !  The  people  on  whom  they  are  dependent 
for  supplies  are  slow  to  learn  the  lesson.  There  is 
nothing  surprising  about  it,  but  the  fact  is  not  less 
important  because  it  is  natural.  The  leaders  ought 
to  understand  the  problem  better  than  the  mass ;  but 
when  will  the  people  intelligently  accept  the  long 
and  arduous  task  ?  Missionary  administrators  would 
almost  consider  their  problems  solved  and  their  way 
wide  open,  if  the  people  in  whose  name  they  are 
working  should  rise  to  the  large  view  of  things,  and 
really  take  the  missionary  work  to  heart  as  a  task  on 
which  they  will  gladly  and  patiently  labor  till  it  is 
done.  If  the  Christian  people  should  intelligently 
settle  down  to  the  real  work  of  missions,  long  plans 
could  be  laid,  deficiencies  in  the  treasury  would  be 


228         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

no  more,  opportunities  could  be  seized,  and  the  work 
could  be  done  worthily  of  him  whose  name  it  bears. 

These  are  the  present  needs  in  missions :  —  the  re- 
quickening  of  faith  in  the  living  God  and  Saviour, 
the  establishing  of  the  missionary  motive  among  the 
vital  thoughts  of  the  modern  age,  the  simplifying  of 
the  Christian  •  message,  and  the  adoption  of  the  long 
and  arduous  work  by  the  Christian  people.  There 
may  be  other  needs,  but  if  these  were  met  the  way  of 
the  Lord  would  be  prepared. 


X 

THE   OUTLOOK   IN   MISSIONS 

That  the  outlook  in  missions  is  the  outlook  of  a 
long  and  difficult  work  requiring  steady  and  patient 
effort  is  a  fact  that  has  been  abundantly  reiterated 
on  these  pages,  but  not  beyond  the  truth.  The  task 
of  planting  Christianity  is  a  great  and  arduous  task. 
Success  consists  in  nothing  less  than  Christ's  con- 
quest of  the  general  life  of  man.  In  the  lands  to 
which  we  go,  men  must  be  led  to  know  God  in  Christ 
and  to  trust  and  love  him  for  themselves ;  converts 
must  become  numerous,  holy  and  influential  enough 
to  constitute  a  transforming  force  in  the  life  of  their 
country  ;  through  this  native  force  the  Spirit  of  God 
must  work  upon  the  thought,  feeling,  and  living  of 
the  people ;  ancient  beliefs  and  institutions  must  be 
conquered  by  the  spirit  of  Christ  and  give  way  to 
the  fruits  of  Christianity;  the  characteristic  energy 
of  Christ  must  have  free  course  till  the  country  is 
made  new.  All  this  must  be  done  in  uncultured 
lands,  and  in  countries  of  ancient  and  settled  order. 
It  cannot  be  accomplished  by  any  one  style  of  labor ; 
it  requires  a  hundred  modes  of  work.     Meanwhile 


230         A  STUDY   OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

various  fortunes  must  be  encountered.  There  is  no 
royal  road.  There  will  be  mistakes  to  be  corrected 
and  work  to  be  repeated.  Resistance  will  take  new 
forms  and  bring  on  new  conflicts.  There  will  be 
labor  that  seems  in  vain,  defeats  as  well  as  victories, 
and  disappointments  resulting  from  success.  There 
will  be  discouragements  at  home,  and  new  conditions 
requiring  new  adjustments.  The  end  is  too  far  off 
to  form  an  element  in  present  calculations.  It  is  a 
long  outlook. 

At  the  same  time,  the  outlook  in  missions  is  the 
outlook  of  a  divine  work,  in  which  God  is  more  than 
man,  and  the  inspiration  of  success  and  hope  will 
never  be  wanting. 

The  old  declaration  that  the  gospel  of  Christ  is 
the  power  of  God  unto  salvation  is  still  true,  and  in 
this  truth  lies  the  hope  in  missions.  God  is  in  it. 
Through  the  tidings  and  living  illustration  of  the 
divine  grace  in  Christ  there  goes  forth  an  actual 
energy  of  God  to  make  new  creatures  of  men.  God 
the  Holy  Spirit,  Lord  and  giver  of  life,  is  at  work 
with  the  truth  that  Christ  reveals.  We  may  say  that 
there  is  a  vital  and  efhcacious  quality  in  the  gospel, 
and  be  right  in  saying  so ;  but  we  may  go  deeper 
into  reality  and  say  that  there  is  a  vital  and  effica- 


THE  OUTLOOK  IN  MISSIONS  231 

cious  quality  in  God  whom  the  gospel  makes  known 
through  Christ.  God  is  his  own  witness,  proving 
his  own  presence  and  power.  Missionary  annals 
contain  constant  proof  that  God  is  still  reconciling 
the  world  to  himself  in  Christ.  He  has  renewed 
and  transformed  the  life  of  men,  wherever  the  gospel 
has  gone,  and  he  can  do  it  still.  According  to  the 
power  that  is  already  working  in  us,  God  is  able  to  do 
exceeding  abundantly  above  all  that  we  ask  or  think. 
This  exceedingly  abundant  power  of  God  is  our  re- 
liance in  missions,  and  the  outlook  of  missions  is  the 
outlook  of  a  work  in  which  this  power  is  active. 

There  is  another  element  of  hope  from  the  divine 
side,  set  forth  to  us  by  our  Lord  in  one  of  his  para- 
bles. He  drew  a  picture  of  the  sower  casting  in  the 
seed  and  then  going  about  his  daily  work  and  taking 
his  nightly  rest,  trusting  the  seed  to  the  forces 
among  which  he  has  placed  it.  The  sower  is  justi- 
fied in  his  confidence.  The  seed-  springs  up  and 
grows,  he  knows  not  how ;  for  the  earth,  the  Lord 
says,  brings  forth  fruit  of  itself,  first  the  blade,  then 
the  ear,  then  the  full  corn  in  the  ear.  It  is  a  striking 
parable,  and  perhaps  a  surprising  one  even  yet.  The 
Lord  certainly  teaches  by  it  that  there  is  a  true  re- 
lation of  mutual  fitness  between  the  seed  and  the 
soil  into  which  it  is  cast.     The  seed  is  placed  where 


232         A  STUDY   OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

growth  is  the  normal  thing.  Put  the  seed  and  the 
soil  together,  and  something  will  come  of  it.  By 
this  he  doubtless  meant  to  set  forth  the  great  and 
fundamental  fact  that  the  truth  of  God  and  the  soul 
of  man  are  adapted  one  to  the  other.  The  truth 
that  Christ  has  brought  to  our  knowledge  is  the  truth 
for  which  the  human  soul  in  all  lands  was  created, 
to  which  it  is  adapted,  and  which  it  is  normal  for 
humanity  to  receive  unto  salvation.  This  is  what 
our  Lord  taught  by  the  parable ;  and  this,  as  soon  as 
we  discern  what  the  substance  of  his  revelation  is,  we 
perceive  to  be  true.  We  are  not  offering  to  the  men 
of  China  or  Africa  something  that  is  strange  to  their 
nature,  or  something  that  it  would  be  abnormal  for 
them  to  accept.  We  are  giving  them  truth  in  which 
alone  they  can  attain  to  their  proper  manhood.  This 
great  fact  constitutes  an  element  in  the  outlook  of 
missions  that  should  never  be  forgotten.  The  divine 
element  in  the  outlook  is  found  not  only  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  life-giving  Spirit,  glorious  as  this  is:  it 
resides  also  in  the  divine  adaptation  of  man  to  Christ 
and  of  Christ  to  man. 

The  divine  element  in  the  outlook  appears  yet 
again  in  that  peculiar  quality  of  the  Christian  faith 
whereby  it  has  always  been  able  to  renew  its  own 
energy  when  renewal  was  needed,  and  thus  to   rise 


THE  OUTLOOK  IN  MISSIONS  233 

to  new  emergencies.  It  has  often  been  noticed  that 
Christianity  has  shown  a  remarkable  power  of  self- 
renovation.  It  has  an  inherent  largeness,  by  virtue 
of  which  it  tends  to  throw  off  temporary  limitations 
and  assert  its  own  equality  to  its  task.  When  there 
was  new  work  to  be  done,  Christianity  has  been 
ready.  If  it  was  needful  that  more  light  should 
break  forth  from  God's  holy  word,  the  light  was 
there.  If  it  was  necessary  that  some  forgotten  truth 
should  be  revived  and  put  to  new  use,  often  has  the 
Holy  Spirit  brought  such  truth  to  the  remembrance 
of  the  Christian  people.  If  some  new  form  of  Chris- 
tian thought  was  needed  to  meet  some  newly-de- 
veloped doubt  or  inefficiency  or  error,  it  has  been 
forthcoming.  These  gifts  of  God  indeed  have  always 
had  their  envelope  of  human  imperfection,  and  they 
have  always  been  in  part  unrecognized  by  the  Chris- 
tian people  when  they  came,  and  even  condemned 
as  not  from  God  at  all.  Yet  the  outcome  has  shown 
that  God  was  with  his  people,  and  the  Christian 
faith  has  still  renewed  its  strength  under  the  inspir- 
ation of  the  indwelling  Spirit. 

What  has  been  done  will  still  be  done.  Christi- 
anity will  renew  itself  for  new  times  as  it  has  done 
before,  and  take  such  form  as  effectiveness  for  God 
may  require.     The  Christianity  of  the  seventeenth 


234         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

century  did  the  work  of  that  century,  but  only  the 
Christianity  of  the  nineteenth  could  do  the  work  of 
the  nineteenth.  So  there  will  be  a  Christianity  of  the 
twentieth  century,  the  same  yet  not  the  same,  effi- 
cient for  the  work  of  the  time,  competent  to  glorify 
God  in  the  conditions  of  its  period.  So  it  will  be  in 
every  century  while  the  work  lasts.  As  the  day  of 
Christianity  is,  so  will  its  strength  be.  That  its 
strength  varies  with  the  days,  and  rises  to  meet  them, 
is  one  secret  of  its  power,  and  of  our  hope.  The 
religion  of  the  living  God  and  his  grace  will  look 
differently  to  men  in  different  periods,  but  it  will  be 
equal  to  the  work  of  all. 

Yet  this  divine  element  in  the  outlook  does  not 
justify  in  us  mere  optimism.  The  facts  forbid  that. 
The  presence  of  the  divine  Spirit  of  life,  the  adapta- 
tion of  the  truth  to  man,  and  the  self -renewing  power 
of  Christianity,  might  seem  to  warrant  hope  of  pro- 
gress without  drawbacks,  and  victory  won  with  ease. 
But  the  work  has  to  be  done  in  accordance  with 
human  nature,  both  in  the  heathen  who  are  to  be 
saved  and  in  the  Christians  through  whom  God 
works.  This  is  a  world  in  which  no  good  thing 
works  perfectly.  If  God  is  to  act  in  accordance  with 
the  nature  that  he  has  given  us  and  the  order  that 


THE   OUTLOOK  IN  MISSIONS  235 

he  has  constituted,  there  is  no  way  even  for  him  to 
make  the  giving  of  Christ  to  the  world  anything 
but  a  long  work,  attended  with  manifold  difficulties 
and  liable  to  long  delays.  It  has  sometimes  been 
said  that  God  could  convert  all  the  heathen  in  a  day 
if  he  wished.  We  should  be  careful  about  talking 
so,  lest  we  cast  doubt  upon  God's  willingness  to  bless 
the  souls  that  he  has  made.  It  is  certain  that  working 
in  accordance  with  the  order  that  he  has  established 
in  human  nature,  God  could  not  convert  all  the 
heathen  in  a  day,  or  in  a  generation.  He  has  under- 
taken a  work  that  even  to  him  cannot  be  a  short  one, 
or  proceed  without  its  delays  and  inequalities.  The 
divine  agent  is  engaged  in  a  long  work,  in  which  we 
are  called  to  labor  with  him,  —  this  is  the  state  of 
the  case.  The  living  Spirit  is  present,  the  truth  is 
adapted  to  man,  and  the  gospel  has  perpetual  power ; 
and  in  a  work  that  is  long  and  hard  we  have  these 
realities  for  our  encouragement.  The  divine  element 
justifies  hopeful  work,  not  optimistic  waiting. 

This  leads  to  the  question  so  often  asked,  just 
what  we  are  to  expect  in  this  world  as  the  final 
outcome  of  missions.  How  much  is  to  be  accom- 
plished? How  far  is  the  world  to  be  renovated? 
The  inquiry  is  often  pressed  down  to  details.  Will 
Christianity  some  day  be  literally  everywhere  in  the 


236         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

world  in  fulness  and  perfection  ?  Will  every  soul 
some  day  be  regenerate  ?  Will  all  life  be  trans- 
formed? Will  all  human  transactions  be  perfectly 
governed  by  the  mind  of  Christ  ?  So  we  ask,  and 
we  are  intensely  eager  to  know.  Things  hidden  and 
unknowable  are  always  fascinating,  and  nothing  is 
more  fascinating  than  that  which  the  future  holds 
concealed.  But  clear  pictures  of  the  far  future  in 
this  world  have  not  been  drawn  for  us.  The  pictures 
that  we  thought  were  in  the  Bible  do  not  prove 
to  be  views  of  that  region,  when  we  examine  them 
more  closely.  Our  own  pictures  of  the  far  future 
are  only  our  forecasts  of  probability  or  inferences 
from  our  knowledge  of  God,  and  in  these  we  may 
not  be  right.  But  the  true  answer  to  the  question 
about  the  final  outcome  in  this  world  is  that  we  do 
not  need  an  answer.  The  future  we  do  not  need  to 
know.  The  work  that  is  committed  to  our  hands  is 
God's  work,  and  will  be  successful.  It  will  be  what 
God  himself  calls  successful.  But  just  what  that  will 
mean,  and  Avhat  form  such  success  will  take,  we  can- 
not know,  and  we  do  not  need  to  know.  The  work  is 
ours,  and  the  result  is  God's.  It  is  enough  for  us  to 
know  that  a  long  and  exacting  work  of  the  most  in- 
spiring and  glorious  kind  is  entrusted  to  us,  in  which 
God  is  with  us  and  we  are  to  labor  with  him :  that  sue- 


THE  OUTLOOK  IN  MISSIONS  237 

cesses  will  crown  our  work  as  we  go  on,  and  success 
will  crown  it  at  last;  and  that  we  can  justly  be 
hopeful  at  every  step,  and  feel  our  hope  brightening 
as  we  advance  toward  the  end.  Beyond  this,  no  an- 
swer to  our  eager  inquiry  about  the  far  future  is  to 
be  obtained. 

It  is  far  more  to  the  point  for  us  to  inquire  how 
much  may  reasonably  be  expected  soon.  What  is  a 
fair  forecast?  How  large  results  may  we  look  for 
from  year  to  year  ?  What  ought  to  satisfy  us  as  we 
go  on  ?  What  is  the  actual  outlook  just  now,  as  we 
are  passing  from  the  nineteenth  century  into  the 
twentieth?  Of  course  this  is  a  question  that  in- 
volves many  others,  of  which  some  may  be  answer- 
able, but  some  baffle  us  entirely.  We  should  be 
very  glad  if  we  could  know  what  the  true  outlook 
really  is,  for  then  we  might  govern  our  expectations 
accordingly,  and  keep  our  hopefulness  better  than  if 
we  ignorantly  misjudged.  We  cannot  solve  the 
problem  very  well,  but  the  question  may  be  put  in 
suggestive  form,  out  of  which  some  profitable  thought 
may  proceed. 

How  far  does  the  missionary  outlook  depend  upon 
what  are  known  as  current  events  ?  The  face  of  the 
social  and  political  world  is  ever  changing.     Rela- 


238         A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

tions  are  altered,  old  possibilities  seem  to  close,  and 
new  ones  open.  Surprises  come  upon  the  world, 
revolutions,  catastrophes.  The  great  world  moves, 
and  its  changes  affect  all  that  is  in  it.  How  far  do 
these  changes,  generally  speaking,  determine  the 
outlook  of  missionary  work  ? 

Of  course  special  and  local  outlooks  may  be  de- 
cisively affected  by  current  events.  The  world's 
movement  may  open  new  fields,  and  thus  bring  in- 
valuable opportunity.  It  may  compel  the  instant 
abandonment  of  certain  fields,  and  close  all  work 
upon  them,  at  least  for  the  time.  Missionary  work 
in  a  country  or  a  special  place  may  become  suddenly 
embarrassed  and  difficult,  so  that  waste  of  energy  is 
inevitable  if  it  is  to  be  continued ;  or  it  may  be  sud- 
denly set  forward  in  freedom.  All  this  occurs  again 
and  again  in  the  course  of  the  long  work.  Be- 
holders are  likely  to  observe  such  effects  with  deep 
interest,  and  perhaps  to  overestimate  their  import- 
ance. The  fact  is  that  no  one  can  tell  just  how 
much  effect  upon  the  real  outlook  of  missions  any 
current  events  whatever  are  to  have.  Nowhere  are 
we  more  liable  to  surprises  than  here,  for  nowhere 
are  we  more  likely  to  compute  probabilities  from  only 
a  part  of  the  facts.  We  are  considering  a  work  in 
which  we  have  to  reckon  with  invisible  powers  as 


THE   OUTLOOK  IN  MISSIONS  239 

well  as  visible,  divine  energies  as  well  as  human 
events  and  movements.  Events  may  seem  decisive, 
and  yet  invisible  forces  may  proceed  to  do  what 
events  appear  to  have  forbidden. 

Famines  interfere  with  work,  and  sometimes  end 
it ;  but  famines  have  sometimes  been  the  means  or 
the  occasion  of  the  brightest  missionary  success. 
Persecutions  have  done  their  characteristic  work, 
which  need  not  be  described,  and  have  sometimes 
seemed  to  represent  the  triumphant  power.  But 
blood  has  not  been  shed  in  vain,  nor  have  wearying 
troubles  been  endured  without  fruit.  Heroism  has 
been  a  better  witness  than  preaching,  and  the  Chris- 
tian character,  in  missionaries  and  in  converts,  has 
been  as  the  face  of  God  among  the  heathen.  Violent 
opposition  may  bring  its  reactions,  and  what  seems 
fatal  to  the  work  may  end  in  promoting  it.  On  the 
other  hand  there  may  be  bright  and  hopeful  occur- 
rences that  prove  disappointing  and  never  yield  what 
they  promised.  Popular  favor  may  be  withdrawn, 
and  free  opportunity  may  close.  Openings  that 
looked  most  promising  may  prove  to  have  drawbacks 
that  could  not  be  suspected.  Yet  disappointments 
themselves  may  disappoint  us,  by  passing  into  un- 
expected means  of  power. 

The  fact  is  that  we  cannot  let  current  events 


240         A   STUDY   OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

alone,  but  are  compelled  to  watch  them  with  keen 
interest  and  study  them  for  their  meaning's  sake, 
and  yet  we  shall  be  wrong  if  we  build  very  definitely 
upon  our  interpretations  of  them.  The  missionary 
work,  even  with  reference  to  its  immediate  outlook, 
is  of  larger  scope  than  passing  events.  Unseen 
elements  mysterious  and  sublime  enter  into  it.  For 
example,  the  immediate  outlook  of  missionary  work  in 
China  would  seem  to  be  settled  by  the  events  that 
are  current  when  these  words  are  written,  in  the 
autumn  of  1900,  for  the  missionaries  have  been  driven 
out,  and  some  have  lost  their  lives.  China  in  fact 
has  been  left  almost  bare  of  missionary  laborers. 
Yet  for  how  long  a  time  even  this  outlook  is  really 
settled,  no  one  knows  ;  and  how  far  the  successes  of 
the  next  ten  years  are  cut  off  by  these  disasters,  who 
can  tell  ?  It  may  seem  that  all  is  over,  and  hostile 
critics  may  rejoice ;  but  for  aught  that  we  can  know, 
the  next  decade  in  China  may  be  the  most  fruitful  for 
Christ  of  all  the  decades  yet.  God  has  children 
there,  and  they  may  abundantly  glorify  his  name. 
The  blood  of  the  martyrs  may  again  be  the  seed  of 
the  church.  As  for  these  disasters  stopping  the  work 
of  missions  in  China  for  all  the  future,  of  course  that 
idea  enters  no  Christian  heart.  China  will  not  be 
dropped  from   prayer  and  effort,  and  the   work   of 


THE   OUTLOOK  IN  MISSIONS  241 

Christendom  will  be  continued  there,  until  its  due 
result  is  obtained. 

How  far  does  the  missionary  outlook  depend  upon 
a  relation  between  the  missionary  work  and  the 
movements  of  civilization  ?  We  cannot  say  that 
what  we  occidentals  call  civilization  is  the  only  thing 
that  can  bear  the  name;  but  it  is  a  fact  that  that 
form  of  civilization,  attended  by  scientific  knowledge, 
which  has  thus  far  accompanied  Christianity  is  mov- 
ing upon  the  non-Christian  parts  of  mankind,  seeking 
to  take  possession.  Simultaneous  with  this  general 
movement  is  the  missionary  movement  of  Christianity 
itself.  How  are  the  two  related  to  each  other? 
Which  is  normally  the  leader  ?  Do  our  missionary 
prospects  depend  upon  our  having  civilization  for  an 
advance-guard,  or  a  pioneer,  or  do  they  not? 

This  again  is  a  question  that  may  easily  be 
answered  too  definitely.  There  are  some  who  are 
impressed  by  the  great  value  of  western  civilization 
with  its  ruling  ideas  as  a  preparation  for  Christianity, 
and  consider  it  an  almost  indispensable  pioneer. 
There  are  others  who  almost  scorn  reliance  for 
Christian  success  upon  such  agencies,  regarding  it  as 
a  resort  to  inferior  and  needless  help,  if  not  even  as 
a  profanation  of  sacred  powers.     Probably  neither  ex- 

16 


242         A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

treme  is  right.  When  we  balance  the  facts  that  bear 
upon  the  question,  it  seems  quite  impossible  on  the 
ground  of  experience  to  call  civilization  unhelpful  to 
Christianity,  and  equally  impossible  to  call  it  indis- 
pensable. The  ruling  ideas  of  western  life,  and 
especially  the  facts  that  make  up  the  body  of  western 
knowledge,  have  often  been  used  by  missionaries  with 
excellent  effect  for  the  breaking  up  of  ancient  igno- 
rance and  the  shattering  of  superstitious  beliefs.  The 
value  of  this  service  is  on  record,  known  to  all  mis- 
sionaries. Contact  with  what  is  new  is  itself  an 
awakening  experience,  and  civilization  has  abun- 
dance of  it  to  offer.  But  the  story  of  missions  is  full 
of  evidence  against  the  claim  that  Christianity  is 
powerless  until  civilization  has  prepared  its  way. 
Christianity  has  availed  with  the  uncivilized.  Chris- 
tianity has  been  the  pioneer  of  civilization  as  often 
and  effectively  as  civilization  has  been  the  pioneer  of 
Christianity.  Christianity  has  the  secret  of  civiliza- 
tion in  itself,  while  civilization  does  not  contain  the 
secret  of  Christianity.  The  new  faith  in  such  a  God 
as  Christ  reveals,  and  in  the  divine  salvation,  is  a 
more  potent  uplifting  influence  upon  the  general 
humanity  than  any  force  of  mere  civilization.  Here 
again  we  are  dealing  with  spiritual  forces  unseen  but 
mighty.     We  must  reckon  upon  God.     Powers  that 


THE   OUTLOOK  IN  MISSIONS  243 

purify  and  spiritualize  the  inner  life  of  man  have  a  fine 
independence ;  they  do  not  always  wait  for  civilizing 
influences  to  prepare  their  way,  and  it  is  well  for  man- 
kind that  they  do  not.  Christianity  is  a  better  plough- 
share for  civilization  than  civilization  for  Christianity. 
We  cannot  escape  the  profoundly  mortifying  fact 
that  what  we  occidentals  call  civilization  too  often 
carries  to  heathen  peoples  the  wrong  gift.  Instead 
of  being  a  pioneer  for  Christian  faith  and  virtue,  it 
often  serves  as  the  bearer  of  corruption  and  vice.  It 
is  needless  to  dwell  upon  the  exportation  of  liquor, 
and  the  introduction  of  social  evils  in  fresh  forms  or 
new  abundance.  All  this  is  but  too  well  known.  In 
much  of  the  current  talk  just  now  about  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity  to  new  peoples  through  war 
and  commerce,  there  is  a  profound  ignorance  of 
Christianity,  and  an  effrontery  that  is  almost  incred- 
ible. Just  now,  civilization  does  not  seem  to  be 
exhibiting  itself  most  favorably  as  the  ally  of  Chris- 
tianity. Whether,  apart  from  missions,  the  west  is 
doing  the  east  more  good  than  harm,  is  at  least  an 
open  question.  At  present  there  is  more  need  of 
reminding  ourselves  that  Christianity  itself  is  the 
best  of  pioneers,  and  of  counting  upon  an  outlook 
that  depends  on  the  inherent  excellence  and  power 
of  the  religion  of  the  living  holy  God. 


244         A  STUDY   OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

How  far  does  the  missionary  outlook  depend  upon 
the  attitude  and  fidelity  of  the  Christian  people  ?  It 
might  seem  at  first  that  here  we  have  a  direct 
equation.  We  are  sometimes  told  that  the  prosper- 
ity of  the  work,  and  even  the  destiny  of  the  heathen, 
will  be  precisely  measured  by  the  degree  of  our 
faithfulness  in  missionary  work.     Is  this  true? 

In  the  large  there  is  of  course,  a  general  equation 
between  the  spirit  and  manner  in  which  the  work  is 
conducted  and  the  results  that  we  have  a  right  to 
expect.  This  needs  no  proof,  and  at  a  glance  it  is 
plain  that  we  have  a  full  right  to  use  this  truth  as  an 
appeal  to  the  Christian  people.  We  must  expect  to 
reap  as  we  sow,  therefore  we  must  sow  intelligently 
and  generously.  The  work  is  vast,  therefore  nothing 
short  of  a  strong  and  steady  prosecution  of  it  is  per- 
missible. Not  until  the  church  rises  to  its  large  re- 
sponsibility can  we  look  for  those  great  results  which 
our  hearts  desire,  and  which  we  know  the  gospel 
is  able  to  bring  forth.     This  is  sound  teaching. 

Yet  this  does  not  mean  that  a  precise  equation 
exists  between  the  fidelity  of  the  Christian  people 
and  the  returns  that  missions  will  yield.  There  is 
no  such  equation.  There  are  too  many  unequaliz- 
ing  elements  in  the  case.  The  church  at  home 
might  be  full  of  faith,  alive  with  zeal  and  wise  in 


THE  OUTLOOK  IN  MISSIONS  245 

planning,  and  under  the  holiest  impulse  might  go 
about  some  task  in  which  long  delays  were  inevit- 
able, and  success  could  be  obtained  only  after  patient 
travelling  of  the  road  of  sacrifice.  We  might  say 
that  the  final  outcome  was  sure,  but  plainly  any 
expectation  of  swift  returns  because  the  work  was 
good  would  be  doomed  to  disappointment.  The  best 
work  may  perhaps  be  done  to-day  where  the  possi- 
bility of  visible  results  is  least.  A  universal  revival 
of  missionary  zeal  and  fidelity  would  have  no  prom- 
ise of  instantaneous  reward  in  large  results ;  it  would 
depend  upon  the  conditions.  And  so  we  cannot 
strictly  say  that  a  new  fidelity  is  all  that  is  needed 
for  swift  returns.  In  general  we  might  be  speaking 
truly,  but  special  circumstances  introduce  variation 
that  is  not  calculable. 

So  on  the  other  hand  it  is  not  strictly  true  that 
no  results  for  good  can  be  expected  that  are  not 
provided  for  in  the  faith,  zeal  and  wisdom  of  the 
church.  Thank  God  for  that.  When  the  Christian 
people,  whether  with  little  faithfulness  or  with  much, 
introduce  the  Christian  word  and  life  to  a  new  realm 
of  humanity  they  are  bringing  in  an  agency  that 
has  vitality  of  its  own.  The  seed  grows,  the  sower 
knows  not  how.  It  grows  if  he  forgets  it.  When 
we  plant  the  gospel  of  Christ,  we  plant  something 


246         A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

that  is  not  dependent  upon  our  subsequent  fidelity 
for  its  success.  The  knowledge  of  the  living  God 
goes  forth  as  a  word  of  eternal  life,  which  will  do 
its  own  work.  Though  we  at  home  should  utterly 
prove  false  to  our  calling,  the  agencies  that  we  have 
started  might  still  continue  at  work  with  divine 
efficiency.  It  is  very  true,  and  never  to  be  for- 
gotten, that  at  present,  and  for  a  long  time  to  come, 
we  have  the  work  to  support.  Upon  our  attitude  and 
fidelity  depend  in  part  the  largeness  of  the  oppor- 
tunity. We  may  limit  the  work  by  our  neglect, 
and  if  we  do  this  we  take  upon  ourselves  a  grave 
responsibility  for  any  failure  that  may  follow.  Yet 
even  thus  the  work  has  a  vitality  that  we  did  not  give 
it,  and  a  vitality  that  our  deadness  does  not  destroy. 

In  all  these  aspects  alike  it  appears  that  the  mis- 
sionary outlook  is  not  very  accurately  calculable.  It 
is  not  precisely  determined  by  current  events,  or  by 
relations  with  civilization,  or  by  the  attitude  of  the 
Christian  people,  though  by  all  these  it  is  influenced. 
There  is  always  an  immediate  outlook  for  the  bless- 
ing of  God  upon  the  agencies  of  his  kingdom.  In- 
spiring opportunities  for  honorable  and  laborious 
service  are  always  opening.  The  work  is  certain 
to  be  long,  and  the  success  of  it  is  certain  to  be 
great.      There   is   enough   of    outlook   to   cheer   us 


THE  OUTLOOK  IN  MISSIONS  247 

perpetually,  and  enough  to  humble  us,  and  enough 
to  urge  us  on  to  our  best  endeavors.  The  end  is 
with  God,  whom  we  can  trust;  and  with  this  we 
must  be  content.  We  need  to  rise  above  the  child- 
ish notions  of  what  constitutes  an  encouraging  out- 
look, and  fix  upon  the  great  future  the  hopeful  gaze 
of  faith  and  patience. 

In  thinking  of  the  outlook  of  missions,  it  is  help- 
ful to  remember  how  inexact  is  the  perspective  in 
which  a  laborer  must  view  the  work  of  his  own 
time.  No  just  perspective  is  possible,  indeed,  save 
in  so  far  as  the  eye  of  faith  is  able  to  rise  to  the 
height  of  God  and  to  look  out  thence.  But  here- 
after we  may  look  back,  and  see  things  more  justly. 
What  seems  long  in  passing  may  seem  short  in  a 
larger  and  juster  retrospect.  It  is  often  said  that 
Carey  and  Judson  were  called  upon  to  exercise 
great  patience  in  the  long  and  weary  waiting  of 
seven  years,  the  period  through  which  each  of  them 
had  to  pass  before  seeing  the  first  convert.  To  wait 
for  seven  long  years  has  seemed  to  many  who  have 
read  of  it  almost  more  than  could  be  expected  of 
any  mortal.  The  time  did  seem  long,  no  doubt,  to 
them,  and  to  the  Christian  friends  who  were  watch- 
ing them  with  sympathy.  To  some  of  their  critics 
it  may  have   seemed   so   long  as  to  be  conclusive 


248         A   STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

against  their  project.  Yet  the  fact  was  that  they  had 
landed  on  strange  shores,  ignorant  of  the  language  and 
the  life  around  them,  to  preach  in  the  face  of  ancient 
religions  a  new  religion  that  required  an  intelligent 
and  experimental  faith ;  and  surely  seven  years  was 
no  unreasonable  time  to  wait  for  the  first  satisfactory 
convert.  From  this  later  time  it  looks  as  if  converts 
came  as  soon  as  they  could  be  expected.  The  same 
thing  appears  on  a  larger  scale.  There  was  a  time  in 
the  history  of  the  American  Baptist  Telugu  mission 
when  thirty  years  of  devoted  labor  showed  only  a 
handful  of  converts,  and  there  seemed  to  be  no 
favorable  outlook.  Disappointment,  weariness  and 
despair  at  home  almost  led  to  the  abandonment  of 
the  mission.  But  the  historian  of  a  later  time  will 
write  that  after  only  thirty  years  of  patient  labor  by 
a  handful  of  missionaries,  in  which  the  results  were 
so  small  as  almost  to  cause  the  work  to  be  aban- 
doned, there  came  a  great  ingathering,  —  so  great 
that  after  only  forty  years  from  its  beginning  the 
mission  stood  forth  as  one  of  the  most  successful 
missions  in  the  world. 

Such  experiences,  which  are  not  rare  in  the  his- 
tory of  missions,  ought  to  teach  us  not  to  judge  by 
the  sight  of  our  eyes,  but  to  estimate  the  outlook 
in   view  of  the  longer  ranges  of  divine  operation. 


THE  OUTLOOK  IN  MISSIONS  249 

What  seems  to  us  as  a  thousand  years  may  be  to 
the  Lord  as  but  one  day  in  the  vast  period  of  his 
working,  and  may  seem  even  to  us  as  but  one  day, 
when  we  have  gone  far  enough  along  to  discern  it 
in  its  true  proportions.     In  fact,  concerning  the  con- 
ditions of  the  present  time,  over  which  all  friends 
of  missions  have  their  perplexities  and  misgivings, 
the  historian  of  some  future  century  will  be  likely 
to  write  something  like  this :  —  "  After  about  a  hun- 
dred years,  with  various  fortunes  and  large  success, 
the  missionary  movement  came  into  a  period  of  un- 
foreseen difficulty  that  seemed  most  serious.     Hard 
questions  arose  and  interest  seemed  to  fail.     In  the 
new  world  that  opened  upon  mankind  in  the  latter 
part   of  the  nineteenth   century,  the  old  modes  of 
thought  and  of  religious  life  were  passing  away,  and 
the  familiar  motives  were  weakened,  while  the  later 
forms    of   Christian   thought  and   life  had   not  yet 
been  developed.     A   new   construction   of  thought, 
feeling    and    endeavor    was   needed,    but    had    not 
fully  come.     Many  thought  that  the  day  of  missions 
was  waning  to  its  close,  but  they  were  wrong.     The 
gospel   of  the   living   God   in   Christ    was   as   well 
adapted  to  the  new  age  as  it  had  been  to  the  old. 
The   forms   that   were  needed  came.     Old  motives 
were   renewed   in   new   conditions.      The   Christian 


250         A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

people  rose  slowly  but  surely  to  their  calling.  Christ 
led  his  church  to  work,  and  the  pause  in  mission- 
ary interest  was  but  momentary,  in  comparison  with 
the  large,  strong  movement  of  the  following  time." 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  foreign  missionaries 
are  generally  the  most  hopeful  of  men  respecting 
the  success  of  the  missionary  enterprise.  Discour- 
agement arises,  but  it  usually  arises  at  home,  where 
neither  the  practical  difficulties  of  the  work  nor  the 
conquering  powers  of  Christianity  are  beheld  as 
they  are  on  the  field.  Missionaries  are  generally 
ardent  believers  in  the  transforming  power  of  the 
gospel,  and  their  confidence  is  born  of  the  hand-to- 
hand  contest  with  opposing  forces.  It  is  naturally 
the  fighters  who  are  brave.  The  church  at  home 
needs  to  be  really  at  work :  then  it  will  believe  in 
the  enterprise.  We  believe  that  Jesus  Christ  is  the 
Son  of  God,  and  that  in  him  God  has  come  forth 
to  the  world  in  the  victorious  power  of  redeeming 
love.  We  ought  therefore  to  expect  victory  for  his 
gospel.  The  faith  and  hope  in  which  we  breathe 
such  expectation  form  the  very  atmosphere  of  our 
religion.  Christianity  is  God's  own  religion,  and 
the  future  belongs  to  it,  because  the  future  belongs 
to  him.  In  this  confidence  Christians  are  called  to 
give  the  gospel  to  the  world. 


XI 

THE   HOME   SIDE   OF   MISSIONS 

An  important  part  of  the  missionary  work  must 
necessarily  be  done  at  home.  First  of  all,  when  it 
began,  the  work  had  to  get  itself  believed  in,  —  a  task 
that  proved  to  be  long  and  difficult.  There  were 
objections  practical,  sentimental,  and  doctrinal,  and 
there  was  the  unfailing  force  of  inertia  to  be  over- 
come. But  faith  and  patience  were  not  in  vain,  and 
slowly  the  missionary  idea  won  its  way  to  a  place  of 
honor  and  power  in  the  hearts  of  the  Chiistian  peo- 
ple. To  keep  that  place,  and  to  render  its  working 
power  more  adequate  to  its  undertaking,  is  its  present 
task.  The  possession  that  it  has  obtained  is  far  from 
perfect,  and  the  true  motive  still  needs  to  be  made 
clearer  and  more  effective.  How  much  still  remains  to 
be  done  is  only  too  plain  in  view  of  what  we  have 
called  the  present  crisis  in  missions.  It  is  evident 
that  missions  are  still  in  great  measure  on  the  de- 
fensive at  home,  and  have  still  to  prove  their  right  to 
the  devotion  of  the  Christian  people,  especially  in 
view  of  the  change  of  times  and  the  revolution  in 


252         A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

dominant  ideas.  But  this  necessity  brings  no  relief 
from  another.  Whether  the  cause  is  on  the  defen- 
sive or  not,  the  work  that  is  actually  in  hand  must  be 
conducted,  and  must  be  supjjorted.  The  planning 
and  administration  must  be  done  at  home,  and  at 
home  the  needful  men  and  money  must  be  obtained. 
Thus  the  home  work  is  laid  out  by  the  nature  of  the 
case.  It  consists  on  the  one  hand  in  administration 
and  money-raising,  and  on  the  other  in  commending 
the  missionary  idea  and  strengthening  its  hold  upon 
the  church  of  Christ. 

In  the  present  order  of  things,  the  work  of  admin- 
istration and  money-raising  belongs,  as  we  have  seen, 
to  the  missionary  society.  The  element  of  adminis- 
tration naturally  belongs  there,  and  must  remain 
there  while  present  methods  continue.  The  collect- 
ing of  money  is  in  the  hands  of  the  society  thus  far, 
but  ought  not  to  remain  there  exclusively.  The  time 
ought  to  come  when  money  will  flow  in  from  the 
Christian  people,  without  so  much  seeking  for  it  and 
anxiety  about  it.  But  at  present  it  seems  necessary 
that  at  home,  in  each  denomination  of  Christians  at 
least,  a  society  or  board  should  be  maintained,  not 
only  for  the  administration  of  the  missionary  work 
abroad,  but  also  for  the  collecting  of  revenues  for  the 
support  of  it.     For  the  time,  and  for  a  good  while 


THE   HOME   SIDE  OF  MISSIONS  253 

yet,  there  seems  no  avoiding  the  necessity  for  such 
organizations. 

The  existence  of  such  an  organization  necessarily 
implies  certain  home  expenses.  Officers  must  be  em- 
ployed. Secretaries,  as  they  are  named,  must  be  men 
of  acknowledged  ability  and  standing.  There  must 
be  a  treasurer,  recognized  in  the  business  world  as 
competent  to  the  management  of  large  affairs.  Book- 
keeping is  indispensable.  Offices  must  be  maintained, 
and  various  incidental  expenses  must  be  met.  As 
matters  go  at  present,  there  is  required  a  large  ex- 
penditure for  the  collecting  of  money  from  the  people. 

It  is  very  common  to  hear  sharp  criticism  upon  the 
home  expenses  of  the  missionary  societies.  Some- 
times it  seems  almost  to  be  supposed  that  there  ought 
to  be  no  such  expenses.  Very  often  they  are  alleged 
to  be  extravagant  in  amount.  It  is  necessary  that 
the  work  of  administration  be  conducted  in  cities, 
and  therefore  unavoidable  that  the  scale  of  expendi- 
ture be  that  of  city  life  and  not  that  of  life  in  the 
country.  Hence  it  often  happens  that  dwellers  in  the 
country,  whose  scale  of  living  involves  less  cost,  sin- 
cerely judge  the  salaries  to  be  far  too  large,  and  the 
general  home  expenditure  to  be  out  of  all  just  propor- 
tion to  the  necessity.  And  apart  from  such  special 
criticisms,  it  is  very  often  alleged  that  too  large  a  pro- 


254         A   STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

portion  of  missionary  receipts  is  devoted  to  home  ex- 
penses. Wild  talk  on  this  subject  is  sometimes  heard, 
and  absurd  charges  circulate  even  among  those  who 
ought  to  know  better,  to  the  effect  that  it  takes  ninety 
cents  of  a  dollar  to  get  a  dime  to  the  heathen,  and 
the  like.  More  moderate  criticism  abounds,  however, 
and  is  to  be  respected.  It  is  always  a  fair  subject  of 
inquiry  whether  the  home  expenses  are  too  large. 

Concerning  the  general  subject  of  home  expenses, 
all  discussion  ought  to  begin  with  agreement  upon 
one  point  which  is  sometimes  left  unmentioned. 
Home  expenses,  in  proper  amount,  are  exactly  as 
legitimate  as  expenditures  in  actual  missionary  work 
abroad.  Some  critics  of  missionary  societies,  and 
some  contributors  to  missionary  funds,  seem  never  to 
have  fully  admitted  this  to  themselves,  but  rather  to 
feel  that  there  is  a  presumption  against  home  ex- 
penses as  such.  But  certainly  there  is  no  such  pre- 
sumption. Home  expenses  there  must  be.  If  a 
missionary  enterprise  in  India  is  to  be  conducted  from 
New  York,  there  must  be  an  office  maintained  in  New 
York  for  the  transaction  of  business,  and  rent  must  be 
paid  for  it.  Money  received  for  the  Avork  must  be  ac- 
knowledged to  the  givers,  accounted  for  by  book- 
keeping, deposited  in  bank,  and  transmitted  to  India 


THE  HOME   SIDE  OF  MISSIONS  255 

through  the  world's  channels  of  exchange.  If  con- 
tributions are  belated,  money  must  be  borrowed,  on 
interest,  for  temporary  use.  Communication  must  be 
maintained  with  the  missionaries  on  the  field,  and  the 
general  work  must  be  conducted  by  competent  men, 
experienced  and  large-minded,  able  to  manage  large 
affairs;  and  such  men  must  be  not  only  employed 
but  supported.  Incidental  matters  of  expense  will  be 
constantly  arising,  with  respect  to  which  the  spend- 
ing of  money  is  absolutely  unavoidable.  Now  all 
this  is  just  as  proper  and  right,  just  as  legitimate  and 
worthy,  as  the  spending  of  money  in  India  for  the 
support  of  missionary  men  and  women,  or  the  pro- 
viding of  indispensable  facilities  for  their  work. 
Moreover,  as  we  have  said,  these  home  expenses  are 
contracted  in  great  centres  of  population  and  com- 
merce, where  rent  and  service  and  salaries  are  neces- 
sarily more  costly  than  in  the  country;  and  it  is 
therefore  very  natural,  until  they  have  taken  better 
knowledge  of  the  facts,  that  many  persons  who  handle 
money  only  in  small  amounts  should  honestly  believe 
the  scale  of  expenditure  to  be  excessive.  Neverthe- 
less these  home  expenses,  if  they  do  not  become 
unnecessarily  great,  are  just  as  truly  a  part  of  the 
proper  cost  of  missions  as  any  expenditures  whatever 
that  a  missionary  society  may  make.     If  one's  con- 


256         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN   MISSIONS 

tribution  goes  into  the  office-rent  of  his  missionary 
society,  it  is  a  contribution  to  missions,  just  as 
really  as  if  it  had  gone  into  the  building  of  a  chapel 
or  the  supporting  of  a  teacher  in  the  valley  of  the 
Ganges.  The  Christian  people  need  to  be  taught 
this,  for  they  have  never  fully  taken  it  to  heart  as  a 
fact.  Home  expenses  are  never  to  be  apologized  for, 
unless  they  are  greater  than  they  ought  to  be. 

Of  course  it  is  true,  however,  that  home  expenses 
constantly  tend  to  increase.  The  general  scale  of 
expenditure  in  business  in  our  cities  grows  more 
liberal  in  some  respects,  and  perhaps  in  the  very 
directions  that  are  most  suggestive  in  missionary  ad- 
ministration. Leading  minds  relieve  themselves  of 
detail  by  employing  more  and  more  help ;  and  this  is 
done  in  the  interest  of  sound  economy,  though  it 
creates  new  bills.  The  tendency  to  substitute  a  little 
expenditure  for  a  little  exertion  by  an  official  who  is 
carrying  unlimited  responsibility  is  both  right  and 
wise  within  its  due  limits,  and  yet  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  trust  money  it  needs  to  be  watched  with 
jealous  care.  It  is  only  the  suggestion  of  common 
wisdom  and  propriety  that  missionary  societies  owe 
it  alike  to  the  givers  and  to  the  laborers  on  the  field 
to  keep  the  home  expenses  just  as  small  as  they  can 
wisely  and  economically  be  made. 


THE  HOME  SIDE   OF  MISSIONS  257 

How  large  a  proportion  of  its  receipts  a  society  is 
justified  in  spending  for  home  expenses  is  an  interest- 
ing question  perhaps,  but  a  question  that  cannot  be 
answered.  No  rule  is  possible.  Conscientious  and 
careful  societies  differ  considerably  among  themselves 
in  this  respect.  Conditions  will  vary  from  time  to 
time.  A  large  increase  in  receipts  would  ordinarily 
bring  down  the  percentage  of  home  expenditure ;  for 
there  are  certain  expenditures  that  are  unavoidable 
whether  the  work  is  larger  or  smaller,  and  the  cost  of 
administration  becomes  relatively  less  if  receipts  be- 
come great.  Therefore  one  good  way  to  bring  down 
the  ratio  of  the  home  expense  is  to  bring  in  more 
money  for  the  work.  As  to  the  practical  question 
which  is  so  often  asked,  whether  the  home  expenses 
of  our  great  societies  are  greater  than  they  ought  to 
be,  one  would  need  close  acquaintance  and  remark- 
able judgment  to  answer  it.  Outside  opinions  are 
worth  very  little.  Perhaps  all  administrators  know 
that  in  some  points  they  might  spend  less  than  they 
do.  Errors  of  judgment  now  and  then  occur,  and 
perhaps  a  sinful  carelessness  may  sometimes  creep  in. 
But  as  for  sweeping  condemnations  of  our  great  socie- 
ties for  extravagant  administration  at  home,  they  are 
simply  false.  It  is  not  a  fact  that  gifts  for  missions 
are  recklessly  spent  at  home.     As  for  the  wild  talk 

17 


258         A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

about  the  small  fraction  of  a  dollar  given  that  finally 
succeeds  in  getting  to  the  heathen,  it  probably  cannot 
be  stopped,  any  more  than  slanders  generally,  but  it 
ought  at  least  to  be  discouraged.  There  is  one 
society  that  has  been  accustomed  every  year  to  trans- 
mit for  actual  work  on  the  foreign  field  more  than  it 
received  from  living  givers,  legacies  and  income  from 
invested  funds  more  than  balancing  the  expenditures 
at  home.  The  same  may  very  probably  be  true  of 
other  societies.  And  there  is  one  missionary  board 
that  has  recently  considered  the  propriety  of  dimin- 
ishing the  salaries  of  its  executive  officers,  in  defer- 
ence to  the  opinion  that  they  are  too  large ;  and  after 
an  exhaustive  examination  of  the  case,  it  was  decided 
that  it  would  not  be  in  accordance  with  good  policy 
and  wise  administration  to  make  the  salaries  smaller. 
So  they  remain  as  they  were,  but  in  consequence  of 
a  deliberate  judgment. 

In  one  respect,  however,  the  home  expenses  are  too 
large.  The  collecting  of  money  for  missionary  pur- 
poses costs  more  than  it  ought  to  be  allowed  to  cost. 
Various  societies  have  different  experiences  in  regard 
to  this,  but  it  is  generally  true  that  the  collecting 
agencies  form  a  heavy  burden  of  expense.  When  it 
is  proposed  to  make  this  burden  less  by  dispensing 
with  the  agencies  intermediate  between  the  congrega- 


THE  HOME   SIDE  OF  MISSIONS  259 

tions  and  the  societies,  the  obvious  answer  is  that  if 
they  are  dispensed  with  the  money  will  not  be  forth- 
coming, and  that  is  an  intolerable  condition.  The 
societies  live  from  hand  to  mouth  as  it  is,  and  are 
walking  by  faith  not  only  in  God  but  in  man,  when- 
ever they  make  their  appropriations,  and  they  cannot 
expose  themselves  to  any  greater  risk  of  losing  in- 
come than  is  upon  them  all  the  time.  They  must 
collect  the  money  or  it  will  not  come.  They  would 
hold  a  jubilee  of  gratitude  and  joy  if  this  heavy  ex- 
penditure could  once  for  all  be  stopped. 

Of  course  it  is  true  that  the  collecting  agencies  are 
to  some  extent  educative  agencies  also.  Representa- 
tives of  the  missionary  cause  carry  to  the  people  in- 
formation about  the  work,  and  discuss  principles  in 
their  hearing,  and  labor  to  increase  zeal  for  the  great 
enterprise.  This  educational  character  in  their  work 
does  something  to  justify  the  cost  of  employing  dis- 
trict secretaries  and  the  like.  But  the  entire  method, 
so  expensive  and  laborious,  ought  to  be  only  tempo- 
rary. There  is  a  better  way  of  raising  money  and  of 
nourishing  missionary  interest.  Special  agencies  like 
these  may  for  a  long  time  be  needed  here  and  there, 
but  the  larger  part  of  such  work  ought  to  be  done  by 
the  churches  and  their  pastors,  without  help  from 
beyond  themselves.      Efficiency  waits  for  the  day 


260         A  STUDY  OF   CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

when  the  Christian  people  shall  intelligently  adopt 
the  missionary  work  as  a  part  of  their  own  regular 
calling,  and  keep  themselves  informed  because  they 
are  interested,  and  contribute  their  money  for  mis- 
sions as  a  matter  of  course.  This  is  the  ideal  way, 
and  toward  this  all  desires  and  efforts  should  be 
directed.  The  way  to  reduce  home  expenses  is  for 
the  churches  to  do  their  own  collecting.  As  long  as 
they  make  it  expensive  to  collect  their  contributions, 
they  have  no  right  to  complain  of  the  expense.  Yet 
as  a  matter  of  fact  it  is  just  here,  in  churches  that 
will  not  give  unless  money  is  spent  in  gathering  their 
contributions,  that  criticism  upon  home  expenses  is 
apt  to  be  sharpest  and  most  persistent. 

This  leads  up  to  what  must  be  said  about  the  pas- 
tor and  his  relation  to  the  home  work  of  missions. 
The  pastor  is  the  natural  leader  of  his  people,  and 
the  pastors  as  a  class  ought  to  be  the  main  reliance 
for  efSciency  in  the  missionary  work  at  home.  A 
few  of  the  things  that  a  pastor  may  reasonably  be 
supposed  to  do  for  the  promotion  of  the  cause  may 
be  mentioned  here. 

A  pastor,  whatever  his  Christian  denomination 
may  be,  and  through  whatever  agencies  his  church 
may  work,  ought  to  make  sure  that  he  is  well  ac- 


THE  HOME  SIDE  OF  MISSIONS  261 

quainted  with  the  missionary  agencies  of  his  own  de- 
nomination. This  seems  very  little  to  ask,  and  yet 
there  are  many  pastors  who  do  not  fulfil  this  simple  and 
just  requirement.  Many  a  pastor  really  knows  very 
little  about  his  missionary  society  or  board.  From 
such  ignorance  serious  misunderstandings  often  come. 
The  minister  misconceives  the  work  and  is  liable  to 
misrepresent  it;  perhaps  in  his  ignorance  he  falls 
into  unjust  prejudices ;  he  cannot  properly  enlist  the 
support  of  his  people  for  the  work.  Even  if  he  does 
not  misrepresent  the  cause,  he  is  likely  to  be  indiffer- 
ent about  it  if  he  is  not  well  informed.  There  is  no 
substitute  for  interest  in  the  work,  and  there  is  none 
for  intelligence  about  it.  A  pastor  has  need  of  both. 
The  true  loyal  interest  leads  a  minister  to  regard  the 
missionary  agencies  of  his  church  as  his  own,  and  to 
live  in  friendly  fellowship  with  them. 

There  is  a  personal  element  in  the  pastor's  relation 
here.  A  pastor  needs  to  have  faced  the  question 
whether  he  himself  ought  to  be  a  foreign  missionary. 
Some  ministers  of  Christ  ought  to  be  laborers  abroad, 
and  of  course  one  who  ought  to  be  there  ought  not  to 
be  a  pastor  at  home.  One  whose  rightful  field  of 
labor  is  at  home  needs  to  know  that  fact,  and  to  know 
it  on  sufficient  grounds.  If  he  does  not,  he  may  be 
haunted  by  doubts  whether  he  is  not  in  the  wrong 


262         A   STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

place.  Many  a  pastor  has  no  freedom  in  dealing  with 
the  cause  of  foreign  missions,  from  a  secret  fear  lest 
if  the  truth  were  known  he  ought  to  be  a  missionary 
himself.  Some  pastors  secretly  know  that  they  have 
never  done  justice  to  the  question,  and  therefore 
avoid  the  subject  when  they  can.  Every  young  man 
who  is  entering  the  ministry  should  fairly  meet  the 
question  of  his  duty  to  enter  the  missionary  work, 
and  settle  it  honestly,  in  the  sight  of  God.  Only 
thus  can  a  man  be  as  conscientious  in  staying  at  home 
for  his  work  as  he  would  be  in  going  abroad  under 
the  sense  of  a  divine  call.  An  un judged  presumption 
in  favor  of  working  at  home  is  not  the  satisfactory 
thing  that  a  clear  conviction  of  duty  is.  Only  by 
passing  through  such  an  experience  of  clear  decision 
can  a  minister  count  with  certainty  upon  being  a 
free  and  unhampered  friend  of  missions  through  a 
lifetime  at  home. 

It  seems  very  little  to  say  that  a  pastor  should  keep 
himself  informed  about  missions  in  general,  for  the 
duty  seems  quite  obvious.  Yet  this  must  be  said. 
Very  few  men,  indeed,  can  be  experts  in  so  broad 
a  field  of  information,  and  yet  every  pastor  ought 
to  be  acquainted,  in  a  general  way  at  least,  with 
the  great  fields  of  the  world,  the  principles  of  mis- 
sionary administration,  and  the  work  of  the   most 


THE  HOME  SIDE  OF  MISSIONS  263 

eminent  laborers,  both  living  and  dead.  This  is  not 
too  much  to  ask.  A  pastor  who  does  not  thus  look 
out  broadly  upon  the  great  movement  of  Christianity 
in  the  world,  and  is  not  qualified  by  knowledge  for 
the  task  of  enlisting  Christians  in  the  present  work 
of  their  Lord,  does  not  truly  represent  Christ  to  his 
people.  A  Christian  minister  who  is  ignorant  of 
missions  is  defective  at  a  vital  point. 

His  people,  as  well  as  himself,  a  pastor  should  keep 
informed  as  to  the  broad  outlook  of  the  missionary 
work.  He  ought  to  be  in  his  general  character  a 
missionary  man,  —  that  is,  a  man  from  whose  con- 
stant influence  his  people  will  learn  that  there  is  a 
kingdom  of  God  in  the  world  to  which  they  owe  a 
joyful  love  and  loyalty,  and  the  movements  of  which 
they  will  find  unspeakably  interesting.  He  should 
never  let  the  missionary  enterprise  go  out  of  sight  or 
be  forgotten.  He  should  never  directly  or  indirectly 
apologize  for  missions  as  a  part  of  the  work  of  the 
church.  When  he  asks  for  money,  he  should  make 
it  plain  why  money  is  needed.  He  should  so  conceive 
and  present  the  work  as  to  convince  his  people  that  he 
trusts  them  to  be  responsive  to  reasonable  calls,  ad- 
dressed to  their  intelligence  and  Christian  feeling. 
He  must  remember  that  permanent  interest  in  mis- 
sions  depends    largely  upon    knowledge,    and  that 


264         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

knowledge  must  not  be  allowed  to  be  too  far  behind 
the  times.  In  many  of  our  churches  there  is  a  strong 
and  sacred  traditional  interest  in  missions,  —  a  most 
excellent  possession,  for  which  we  ought  to  be  most 
thankful,  and  which  the  minister  should  not  fail  to 
utilize  for  present  purposes.  But  traditional  interest, 
if  that  is  all,  cannot  be  counted  upon  to  live  in  fresh- 
ness from  generation  to  generation,  especially  when 
dominant  thoughts  are  changing  as  they  are  now. 
The  interest  must  be  revived  by  contact  with  living 
facts ;  and  of  these  the  supply  is  never  wanting.  A 
new  generation  must  not  be  allowed  to  grow  up  with- 
out a  good  knowledge  of  missions,  or  without  being 
plainly  told  in  terms  of  the  new  time  and  thought 
what  the  missionary  motive  is.  All  interest  of  young 
men  and  women  in  the  work  is  true  theme  for  grati- 
tude, and  pastors  should  by  all  means  nourish  it  and 
turn  it  to  use. 

A  pastor  should  make  the  missionary  interest  a 
constant  theme  in  public  prayer.  Public  prayer 
should  not  merely  utter  the  petitions  of  the  moment, 
it  should  guide  and  form  the  habit  of  spiritual  desire 
for  the  people.  In  liturgical  churches  the  kingdom 
of  God  in  the  world  is  never  forgotten,  but  in  churches 
where  extemporaneous  prayer  prevails  the  field  of  re- 
quest is  often  scarcely  larger  than  the  congregation. 


THE  HOME  SIDE   OF  MISSIONS  265 

In  ordinary  circumstances,  a  congregation  should 
never  be  allowed  to  go  home  from  public  worship  with- 
out having  the  kingdom  of  God  throughout  the  world 
brought  home  to  them  in  prayer,  and  having  their 
hearts  drawn  out  to  pray  for  all  men  and  all  work  for 
the  good  of  men.  A  minister  who  regularly  and 
habitually  prays  for  missions  thereby  shows  that  he 
has  begun  to  behold  his  true  horizon. 

What  is  said  of  the  home  side  of  missions  may 
well  include  a  word  upon  home  criticism  of  the 
missionary  work,  and  the  light  in  which  it  should 
be  regarded.  There  has  always  been  unfavorable 
criticism,  and  certainly  it  will  continue.  It  has 
abounded  since  the  troubles  in  China  began,  for  it 
has  been  convenient  to  lay  the  wrath  of  the  Chinese 
to  the  charge  of  those  who  were  offering  them  a 
new  religion.  But  the  accusation  will  not  live  long ; 
in  fact,  it  is  already  meeting  its  answer.  All  foreign 
elements  have  doubtless  been  offensive  to  the  Chi- 
nese ;  but  to  represent  the  quiet  teachers  of  religion 
as  the  real  cause  of  the  outbreak,  when  the  exas- 
perating aggressions  of  the  western  powers  are 
known  by  all  men,  is  to  bring  an  accusation  that 
must  be  short-lived.  The  world  is  too  intelligent  to 
hold  it  long. 


26Q         A  STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

But  in  other  ways  unfriendly  criticism  is  sure  to 
be  encountered.  A  hostile  spirit  is  in  the  air.  Just 
now,  the  inborn  heathenism  of  unregenerate  human- 
ity is  asserting  itself  afresh  in  selfishness  and  war. 
The  prevailing  temper  toward  the  distant  parts  of 
the  world  is  hard,  unspiritual,  greedy.  What  is 
worth  having,  the  western  nations  want  for  them- 
selves. The  extension  of  western  power  into  eastern 
regions  is  proposed  for  the  sake  of  the  west,  not  of 
the  east,  and  there  is  little  hesitation  about  saying 
so,  though  sometimes,  not  too  convincingly,  the  phil- 
anthropic motive  is  put  forward.  In  fact,  the  great 
world-movements  of  the  day  are  in  a  high  degree 
unspiritual  and  anti -spiritual,  distinctly  disowning  the 
finer  motives,  and  glorifying  self-aggrandizement. 
The  revival  of  the  war-spirit  is  always  a  reawakening 
of  the  brute  in  man,  and  such  a  revival  is  upon  us 
now  in  force,  just  when  our  relations  with  the  newly- 
opened  world  are  calling  most  urgently  for  the  mind 
of  Christ. 

At  such  an  hour,  Christian  missions  are  sure  to 
meet  disparagement.  In  spirit,  they  are  the  very 
opposite  of  this  temper  of  the  time.  Missions  are 
always  unselfish  in  their  large  and  generous  aim. 
They  belong  to  another  world  than  that  of  war  and 
greed  and  ambition,  for  they  express  love,  and  work 


THE  HOME   SIDE  OF  MISSIONS  267 

out  the  designs  of  helpfulness.  They  spring  from 
respect  for  the  oriental  peoples,  and  condemn  that 
contempt  which  is  now  so  popular.  In  a  word,  they 
represent  the  spiritual  in  human  life.  It  is  not  to 
be  expected  that  missions  will  go  through  the  present 
period  without  falling  under  the  reproof  and  dis- 
paragement of  the  spirit  of  the  time.  Good  people 
will  yield  to  the  influence,  more  or  less,  and  join 
with  the  age  in  suspecting  that  missions  properly 
belong  to  a  softer  time,  when  less  energetic  motives 
are  abroad.  What  is  the  use,  it  will  be  said,  of 
sending  forth  sheep  in  the  midst  of  wolves  ?  Some 
will  despise  such  a  mission  as  out  of  keeping  with 
the  spirit  of  the  age,  and  some  will  despair  of  it  as 
a  hopeless  thing ;  and  both  classes  will  be  indifferent 
about  the  actual  work. 

Such  criticism  ought  to  be  expected,  and  ought 
to  be  understood.  To  understand  it  is  not  difficult ; 
it  simply  indicates  the  opposition  of  the  unchristlike 
world  to  the  spirit  of  Jesus.  Jesus  himself  encoun- 
tered such  opposition,  and  foretold  it  for  his  friends 
in  the  work  of  his  kingdom.  It  is  infinitely  sad 
that  the  lower  powers  in  humanity  are  breaking  out 
so  violently  at  the  end  of  the  nineteenth  Christian 
century,  but  the  practical  duty  that  follows  is  plain. 
The  rising  of  evil  is  the  call  of  God.     All  who  de- 


268         A   STUDY  OF  CHRISTIAN  MISSIONS 

light  in  the  things  of  the  spirit,  all  who  prize  love 
and  helpfulness  and  peace,  all  who  wish  the  best 
for  humanity  and  know  that  the  holiest  is  the  best, 
ought  to  regard  the  present  situation  as  a  summons 
to  give  heart  and  hand  to  the  gracious  work  of 
Christian  missions.  Never  was  the  great  spiritual 
contrast  more  visible  in  the  world  than  it  is  to-day, 
and  never  did  the  word  of  the  Lord  go  forth  more 
clearly,  "Inasmuch  as  ye  have  done  it  unto  one  of 
the  least  of  these  my  brethren,  ye  have  done  it  unto 
me."  Ultimately,  he  will  rally  the  lovers  of  good- 
ness tg  the  support  of  the  missionary  purpose,  but  he 
needs  them  now;  and  what  shall  we  think  of  our- 
selves if  we  hear  his  voice  and  let  him  call  in  vain 
for  us  ?  Let  all  who  love  the  sweeter,  stronger 
element  in  life,  and  believe  in  love  and  holiness, 
join  in  the  name  of  Jesus  Christ  in  this  service  to 
God  and  man. 


OTHER    BOOKS   BT   DR.    CLARKE 

An  Outline  of 
Christian  Theology 

Crown  8vo.    $2.50  net 

This  is  the  simplest,  clearest,  most  radical,  and  most  spiritual  theo- 
logical treatise  we  have  ever  seen.  It  is,  indeed,  in  these  four  characteris- 
tics rather  a  treatise  on  religion  than  on  theology.  It  is  vital, 
not  scholastic  ;  a  minister  to  largeness  of  life,  through  clearness  of 
thought.  ...  To  ministers  holding  in  whole  or  in  part  the  new  philos- 
ophy, we  recommend  this  volume  as  showing  them  how  to  use  that  phil- 
osophy to  conserve,  nourish,  and  strengthen  the  old  i2ixilci.—  The  Outlook. 

We  have  read  it  with  great  interest.  Its  author,  though  so  modest  as 
not  to  prefix  the  word  "  Professor  "  to  his  name,  at  once  commands  our 
respect.  He  is  a  clear  thinker,  a  fine  scholar,  a  scientific  and  philosophi- 
cal theologian.  The  work  is  able,  it  is  stimulating,  it  is  fresh,  and  reveals 
him  in  touch  with  the  latest  thought  of  the  day.  It  is  in  many  respects 
an  epoch-making  book.  ...  We  commend  this  book  to  any  who  desire 
to  get  the  clearest  statement  of  the  new  theology  that  can  be  found  in 
English.  —  Presbyterian  and  Reformed  Review. 

Professor  Marcus  Dods  -writes  -.—  '■'YiTas  it  ever  happened  to  any  of 
our  readers  to  take  up  a  work  on  systematic  theology,  with  the  familiar 
divisions,  'God,'  'Man,'  'Sin,'  'Christ,'  'The  Holy  Spirit,'  'The 
Church,'  'The  Last  Things,'  and  open  it  with  a  sigh  of  weariness  and 
dread,  and  find  himself  fascinated  and  enthralled,  and  compelled  to  read 
on  to  the  last  word  ?  Let  any  one  who  craves  a  new  experience  of  this 
kind,  procure  Dr.  Clarke's  '  Outline.'  We  guarantee  that  he  will  learn 
more,  with  greater  pleasure,  than  he  is  likely  to  learn  in  any  other 
systematic  theology." 

We  have  received  from  America  many  useful  contributions  to  theologi- 
cal literature,  but  few  that  surpass  this  either  as  theology  or  as  literature. 
—  British  Weekly. 


OTHER    BOOKS    BT  DR.    CLARKE 

CAN   I   BELIEVE   IN 
GOD   THE   FATHER? 

Lectures  Delivered  before  the  Har- 
vard Summer   School  of  Theology 


CONTENTS 

The  Practical  Argument  for  the  Being  of  God. 

Divine  Personality. 

The  Relation  Between  God  and  Men. 

The  Moral  Effect  of  the  Doctrine  of  God. 

Dr.  Clarke  has  handled  some  of  the  most  profound  speculations  in 
theology  with  rare  simplicity  and  force.  He  introduces  his  hearer  at 
once  to  an  exposition  of  the  practical  argument  for  the  being  of  God 
which  is  unusually  lucid  and  suggestive.  His  language  is  simple  and 
the  analysis  of  his  thoughts  perspicuous.  —  The  Churchman. 

There  is  no  more  devout  and  no  more  enlightening  writer  on  the  sub- 
ject of  Christianity  than  the  Rev.  Dr.  William  Newton  Clarke.  .  .  . 
Aside  from  its  relation  to  the  subject  under  discussion,  the  reading  of 
this  article  is  an  intellectual  delight,  it  is  so  completely  thought  out  and 
clearly  stated.  —  Brooklyti  Eagle. 

These  lectures  will  bear  the  test  of  careful  reading,  and  they  are  so 
interesting  that  they  may  be  read  with  pleasure  as  well  as  with  profit. 
—  Chicago  Advance. 

An  interesting  and  suggestive  defence  of  theism.  —  The  Outlook. 


OTHER    BOOKS   BT   DR.    CLARKE 

What  Shall  We 
Think  ^/Christianity? 

The  Levering  Lectures  before  the 
Johns    Hopkins   University ^  ^^9P 

i2mo.'  $1.00 

CONTENTS 

I.  The  Christian  People.  II.  The  Christian  Doc- 
trine.    III.    The  Christian  Power. 

A  singularly  beautiful  and  powerful  statement  of  the  essentials  of 
the  Christian  Religion,  clothed  in  an  exquisite  simplicity  of  form 
and  language,  while  its  crystal  clearness  of  thought  leads  the  reader 
deep  into  the  heart  of  the  truth  itself.  —  The  Christian  Advocate. 

.  .  .  The  address  of  a  cultured  man  to  cultured  hearers ;  they 
are  intent  on  what  is  essential  and  vital  ;  they  deal  with  facts  rather 
than  theories ;  the  note  of  realism  is  heard  throughout.  —  The  Outlook. 

We  cannot  but  recognize  the  noble  optimism,  the  religious  enthu- 
siasm, and  the  excellent  mental  poise  Dr.  Clarke  exhibits.  —  The 
Churchman. 

Prof.  Clarke  treats  his  theme  in  a  broad  fashion,  examines  the  his- 
torical development  of  the  Christian  people,  the  Christian  doctrine,  and 
the  Christian  power,  and  presents  the  results  of  his  investigation  in 
the  light  of  well  known  facts. —  N.Y.   Times  Saturday  Review. 

CHARLES    SCRIBNER'S    SONS,    Publishers 

153-157    FIFTH    AVENUE,    NEW    YORK    CITY 


Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1    1012  01092  2799 


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<J 

- 

f) 

